Tycho's debut record has run a long, twisted road since its initial release in 2004. Originally titled
Sunrise Projector, producer
Scott Hansen's dreamy, downtempo masterwork was first issued on the small San Francisco Gammaphone label before being picked up by the larger IDM-centered indie Merck Records.
Hansen then readjusted the sequence and expanded the album, which was released by Merck under the new title
Past Is Prologue in 2006. The music was largely the same but included several new remixes by other California-based electronic artists like
Dusty Brown and
Chachi Jones. Success seemed on the horizon for
Tycho, but that very same year, Merck folded, leaving both the artist and his enchanting album homeless.
Hansen spent the following years releasing various singles and working on a follow-up before finally landing a deal with Ghostly International, which put
Past Is Prologue back in print with a 2010 reissue featuring an additional new remix by Brooklyn's
Mux Mool. A blend of live instruments, gentle synths, and verdant, ambient textures,
Hansen's tenacious debut stretches gracefully out, brimming with late-afternoon warmth. Largely instrumental, the 13 tracks are often flecked with odd conversational samples and feathery buried sounds, adding a sensory depth to the strong melodic compositions. When vocal lines do appear, they're embedded in the atmosphere like the clouds themselves. Songs like the hazy, tuneful "Sunrise Projector" and the wandering "Cloud Generator" roll wistfully by, unaware of their own weightlessness, while the heftier "Dictaphone's Lament" is grounded by its deep, resonant bass and steady, strident beat. Above all, atmosphere is the key component in
Hansen's work, and the environment he created on this lovingly rendered debut is well worth spending some time in.