Giving Up the Ghost:SubtractiveLAD

Title: Giving Up the Ghost

Label: n5MD

Genre: amazing jazzy electronica

Rating: 7 of 7

Remember the first time you heard M83’s Dead Cities, and how it’s huge, brooding sound seemed to encapsulate every feeling that was leaking out of your pores at that instance. Well Vancouver’s subtractiveLAD emulates that exact same mood, except he is much more grounded in jazz-improvisation and analog synthesizers. Steven Hummel was a jazz performer for a good while until he started to gain an interest in computer technology and old school analog equipment. He gave up his traditional instruments and began to create his own through a vast maze of individual pieces and electrical wires. The result of his explorations is a gigantic sound of surreal ambiences and constantly evolving rhythms that evoke deep emotions within the listener. Hummel also allows each song to develop within itself, not cutting something short to fit into an allotted radio-friendly time period. But trust me, if you have 7 or 8 minutes to spare, let subtractiveLAD take over your show, though I wish he could have come up with a title that was not so overused.

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