Patricia Wolf is one of the emerging talents in electronic ambient music having begun her career in the acclaimed synth duo SOFT METALS.
Based in Portland, in early 2022 she released her debut album ‘I’ll Look For You In Others’, a bittersweet work documenting a period of bereavement, heartbreak and disconnect. The swift follow-up ‘See-Through’ was one of the best records in the genre that year and offered a more hopeful and joyous approach which led her to a place of life embracing lightness.
Combining modern and natural worlds, one key aspect in the music of Patricia Wolf is her use of field recordings and this shapes her new album ‘The Secret Lives of Birds’ more than previously. Having recorded various bird songs and calls, curiosity led her to become a bird watcher and conservationist; this record reflects this passion. While the music is very beautiful at times, there are darker moments of angst and sadness driven by concern. The end result is like a soundtrack for an as-yet-unmade wildlife documentary,
Photo by Edward Pack Davee
Self-explanatory and with synthetic droplets simulating contact calls, ‘The Secret Lives of Birds’ title piece sets the scene for the album. A range of gentle and sharper arpeggios represent ‘The American Dipper’ as windy sweeps glide into the backdrop while ‘Rufous Hummingbird Dive Display’ swoops and hovers as the influence of the late Ryuichi Sakamoto pays a visit.
Inspired by the wonder of its title, ‘Starling Murmuration’ captures these swirls and patterns in the sky through a cleverly constructed pattern of seemingly randomised textures and passages. Over a backdrop of delightful quacks, ‘Greylag Geese Through the Listening Sculpture at Tjörnin’ offers tonal reflection alongside metallic creaking in its aerial movement before ‘Bewick’s Wren’ presents a sound sculpture of minimal synth passages
Photo by Gina Roberti
‘Golden-Crowned Sparrow’ has something of a serene quality along with ‘The Ptarmigan and the Gyrfalcon’ although the latter is shaped by deeper ominous tones of loss in the web of life and the fable of these two birds in Icelandic folklore. ‘Mourning the Varied Thrush That Struck a Window and Died’ documents Patricia Wolf’s own personal experience of a bird hitting a window at her house and dying shortly after; embroiled in heartbreak, this is a haunting emotive piece.
‘Nocturnal Migration’ comes swathed in an airborne wash while reminiscent of CLUSTER & ENO’s ‘One’, Wolf utilises the Nuetone AI plugin tool on one of her field recordings to illustrate the depressing spectre of a future world where wildlife has gone extinct in its natural habit. Then rising high in the air, ‘Soaring’ has density as natural wave upon synthetic wave glistens and builds to conclude.
Patricia Wolf’s creative mission is to use music to “make people more sensitive to the world and maybe a little more careful with it”. An album to savour, ‘The Secret Lives of Birds’ is a fabulous thought provoking work with a variety of emotions that has a sense of purpose.
One of the new generation of ambient composers, Patricia Wolf releases her third album ‘The Secret Lives of Birds’ on Nite Hive, the experimental cassette imprint established by Penelope Trappes of THE GOLDEN FILTER for women and gender-expansive artists.
Patricia Wolf first became known as a member of acclaimed synth duo SOFT METALS. After the contrasting moods of her first two albums ‘I’ll Look For You In Others’ and ‘See-Through’, for ‘The Secret Lives of Birds’, she delves into her new found avian fascination which came from her nature field recordings which included the songs and calls of birds.
Patricia dives deep into her personal library of field recordings and birding experiences, writing songs that show the variety of emotions and wonders that birds bring. Using these field recordings and carefully crafted electronics, Wolf’s emotive instrumental compositions celebrate the avian world and the challenges these beautiful creatures face in the Anthropocene.
Presently an artist in residence at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado to learn about the interplay among species and how climate change is impacting those species, Patricia Wolf kindly answered a number of questions from ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about ‘The Secret Lives of Birds’ and her wider conservation concerns.
‘The Secret Lives of Birds’ is like the soundtrack for an as-yet-unmade wildlife documentary, what inspired the concept?
It’s great that you picked up on the idea of an imaginary wildlife documentary. I did have that sort of mindset when the concept started taking shape. Over the past few years I’ve become increasingly interested in learning about birds (and all wildlife), ecology, conservation, and ecological restoration. It all started when I began my field recording practice. I love listening to and recording the sounds of wildlife in their natural habitats, but at first I wasn’t able to identify most of what I was hearing.
I started to analyse my recordings with Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s BirdNET and Merlin Bird ID apps. Once I was able to match the songs and calls to specific bird species I began studying their identifying features, behaviours, and habitat needs. My partner noticed that I was getting more and more interested in birds so he gave me a nice pair of binoculars. It was one of the best gifts that I’ve ever received! It opened up a whole new world to me. Once I could see birds in more detail and began to recognize specific species by their calls and songs I became a daily birdwatcher.
I’ve been collecting recordings of the birds that I hear on my walks and from my windows and thought it would be nice to do something with them. When Penelope invited me to make an album for Nite Hive, I saw it as a great opportunity to work on a project that expressed my love of birds. I also had recently finished working on my first soundtrack project for my friend Edward Pack Davee’s new film, ‘Hrafnamynd’ so I think being in the soundtracking mindset also influenced how this album came out. I really hope that I can evoke images of birds and nature when people listen to this work.
Photo by Gina Roberti
The album features field recordings of the birds but did you also film any to assist with your compositional process or did you rely on memory and passion?
I don’t have a telephoto lens for my camera which would enable me to get clear and crisp photos or videos of birds. Because they are often frightened of people, it’s difficult to get close enough to film them in detail without specialised equipment. Becoming a birder makes you a more detail oriented person because there can be subtle differences that you have to notice about a bird in order to identify them properly. You tend to remember brief observations well, too, after doing it for a while because sometimes a quick glimpse is all that you get. You learn what to look for so you can better confirm or deny a sighting. I’m sure that it’s great for one’s brain in terms of focus and memory. I guess you could say I rely on keen observation, memory, passion, books and field guides to make sure that I am correct about an observation. Those observations and learning experiences are what inspired the music on this album.
Compared with your most recent album ‘See-Through’ which was a soothing relaxed ambient work, ‘The Secret Lives of Birds’ captures a wider range of emotions and feelings including some quite dark ones?
I think that this album is not too much of a departure from my first two albums in terms of how the music feels and sounds. The concept is referenced in the album and song titles and that surely influences what the listener is thinking about as they listen, but I wonder what the listener would imagine if the titles were referencing something more related to the human experience? Would they still think about birds or would they think about their relationships with humans and society or their internal thoughts and feelings?
With this album I wanted it to make something that is enjoyable and interesting to listen to from a musical standpoint, but nudge people into the world of birds and other animal species. Another aspect to this is that I strongly believe, as do many scientists (see: The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness), that animals are conscious and emotional beings. Knowing this, I feel so much sorrow with how they are treated by many humans. My hope is that through my music I might open people’s minds and hearts to be kinder and more compassionate towards other species and the habitats that they need to live the lives that they evolved to live. I hope that we can blur the lines that separate us and focus more on the connections. We are animals, too and we have common ancestors. We are all relatives.
Photo by Michael Yun
A case in point would be ‘Mourning the Varied Thrush That Struck a Window and Died’ which was about an incident which you discussed on your social media?
That song is about a personal experience that I had with a Varied Thrush, hitting a window at my house and dying shortly after. It was heartbreaking for me and the bird’s mate who called for him for a long time afterwards. I’d regularly see them together in my yard before that incident. Once I was able to compose myself after his death, I recorded his mate calling for him and used it in this track. Their song is a simple one note whistle. It’s pure and a bit haunting to me. Both males and females make a variety of sounds. It was heartbreaking to hear her call for him and get no response. It went on for quite some time and I know that the bird was anxious, sad, and worried about its partner and its future as single bird. They rely on one another and a lot goes into a pair deciding to be together.
I felt so ashamed that this happened and immediately purchased the Acopian Bird Savers Zen Curtains to make all of my windows visible to birds. Birds are intelligent beings, but they have different adaptations to us. They can see ultraviolet light, colours that we cannot see, but they cannot see glass. They see what is reflected in it – the plants, the sky, or they see a room in a building that looks like an interesting place to visit. They often fly full force into windows thinking that they are flying to a safe place, but instead strike the hard surface and suffer a serious or life ending injury.
I wanted to share this experience in my music as a way to bring attention to this serious problem. It’s estimated that about 1 billion birds die each year from window strikes in the United States alone. There’s been a 90% decrease in bird populations in the US since 1970 which is shocking and disturbing. We as a species need to do something to make our buildings safer for birds. I hope with this song I can bring some awareness to this problem and inspire more people to apply one of the many often simple solutions to this problem on the buildings that they have some control over.
Photo by Edward Pack Davee
‘I Don’t Want to Live in a World Without Birds’ is quite haunting, a strong message using music?
That song is one of my field recordings processed through the Nuetone AI plugin tool that can transform an input sound source into a violin expression. The motivation behind this was borne out of the depressing thought of a world in the future where most or all wildlife has gone extinct in the wild and all the human world is left with are archives and maybe some remaining species kept in zoos or private collections. The idea of birdsong and wildlife disappearing in the wild makes me incredibly sad. I think of people trying to fill in the gaps with artificial bird sounds or something else artificially designed to fill in the sonic space.
I don’t think this song quite demonstrates what that might sound like, but the idea of field recordings or AI renderings of imaginary birdsongs, or artists trying to make birdsong-like music to relax too in an artificial nature was on my mind when I experimented with this AI tool. I think this song sounds interesting and I enjoy listening to it, but I still live in a world where I can hear and see birds. If I were left with only recordings of birds or artificial versions of them how sad that would be, especially having the memory as a child of birdsong waking me up in the morning and noticing them around me at all times of the day.
‘The Secret Lives Of Birds’ title piece sets the scene for the album, was that the pivotal track in the process which allowed the other tracks to emerge or had you already sketched ideas based on each of the different birds species you wanted to feature?
I had already sketched out a few ideas for this album before that song was written. ‘Rufous Hummingbird Dive Display’ and ‘Golden-Crowned Sparrow’ were the first songs that I wrote for this album and the concept unfolded from there. ‘The Secret Lives of Birds’ was a playful exercise to try to write a birdsong-like phrase on my synthesizer. I like how it came out and it also serves as a sort of theme song for my imaginary bird documentary.
Photo by Max Wolf
‘Golden-Crowned Sparrow’ and ‘The Ptarmigan and the Gyrfalcon’ both have this serene quality, how would these have developed when recording and what particular instruments did you use?
‘Golden-Crowned Sparrow’ is centered around a field recording of that bird that I took just outside my kitchen window. I adore their song. There’s something so tender and sweet about it. I wanted to write a piece of music that reflected what that I feel when I hear them. They walk and fly upon the earth in a gentle and kind way. They are social birds usually seen in a flock of their species as well as other sparrow and finch species. They get along harmoniously with others. The synth I used for this song is the UDO Super 6. I was improvising on it while listening to the recording of the ‘Golden- Crowned Sparrow’ song.
‘The Ptarmigan and the Gyrfalcon’ was inspired by a bit of Icelandic folklore that I was told about while in Reykjavik last fall. According to the tale, the Ptarmigan (a bird in the grouse family) and the Gyrfalcon (a bird of prey) were siblings, but one day Odin’s wife Frigg summoned all the birds to meet and she demanded that they all show their fealty to her by walking through fire. All of the birds did this except the Ptarmigan which is the folk explanation to why they have feathers on their legs and feet and the other birds do not.
As a punishment to the Ptarmigan for not proving its loyalty, Frigg cursed her to be the most defenseless of birds and to be hunted for eternity. Even her brother the Gyrfalcon now hunted her and after he kills her and realizes that she is his sister and cries out in sorrow and regret. It’s a tragic story, but it really stuck with me. It illustrates the painful aspects of the web of life in a mystical kind of way. This song was made with the Super 6, Pro-800, and Peak. I wanted to create an atmosphere to set the stage for this tragedy to play out.
Do you have a favourite bird and therefore a favourite track on the collection?
I don’t have a favourite bird. I love them all! They are all so fascinating and unique in their own ways which is why it’s so interesting to learn about them. I don’t have a favorite track. I see the album as a unit and I think it makes the most sense when experienced that way.
‘The Secret Lives Of Birds’ is being released by Nite Hive which is the label of Penelope Trappes, your career progressions have followed similar paths having both first become known in synthpop duos, how did you come to connect with her?
Yes, we both used to be in synthpop type duos at around the same time. I was a fan of THE GOLDEN FILTER back then when I was in SOFT METALS. It’s really cool that we are now doing solo projects and have become friends. I first connected with her in 2022 when my first solo album came out. I remember she played one of my songs on a BBC radio show that she made a mix for. I was honored! I thanked her and we began to talk and I got more acquainted with her music and was blown away by it. We’ve been keeping in touch and cheering each other on as we go about our creative lives. This past fall while on tour in Europe, I got a chance to meet her in person. We spent a few days together in Brighton and we immediately felt like we’d known each other for such a long time. When she and Steph created Nite Hive, they invited me to be a part of it and I gladly said yes.
It’s interesting the connection between music and birds, Robert Dean who was best known for being in the band JAPAN and has more recently been occasionally producing ambient music, is now a leading ornithologist and illustrator in Costa Rica, is this something you would like to venture into in the future?
Yes, definitely! I am very much interested in biology and ecology and have been interested in getting involved in projects that restore areas to their natural state to support biodiversity. I think I will eventually go back to school to get proper credentials to do this work and will begin volunteering on projects where I can lend a hand in this area. I really hope that my music can draw people in to the secret lives of birds and inspire them to be more sensitive to their needs.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK give its warmest thanks to Patricia Wolf
Based in Portland Oregon, Patricia Wolf is a musician, sound designer and producer who first came to the attention of electronic music audiences as a member of SOFT METALS.
Since the acclaimed duo disbanded, she has been rediscovering her muse using electronics, voice and field recordings to conjure vivid textures and environmental atmospheres.
Taking her time before releasing her solo compositions to the world, in early 2022, she issued her debut album ‘I’ll Look For You In Others’, a bittersweet ambient work documenting a period of bereavement, heartbreak and disconnect. It was swiftly followed by the brilliant ‘See-Through’, a more hopeful and joyous suite of radiant soundscapes that saw Wolf finding her way to a place of lightness that embraces life and the curiosities that it has to offer.
In a break during preparations for an upcoming North American tour, Patricia Wolf kindly took time out to chat with ELECTRICITITYCLUB.CO.UK about her creative rebirth and love of nature.
Some people who know you from SOFT METALS might be surprised at the ambient and field recordings direction you have taken, how did this come about?
In 2017 I got an invitation from my friend Gina Altamura to create a live reimagined score for a screening of Jean Cocteau’s ‘La Belle et la Bête’ as part of her series ‘Fin De Cinema’ which invites musicians to reinterpret the soundtracks of classic art films. This project inspired me to approach music differently. This is when I first started using field recordings in my work. For example, I used the sounds of a rooster crowing, an arrow being shot, the guttural chanting of a monk, wine being poured into a glass, and other sounds to add interesting audio elements alongside the music. All of the sound from the original film was cut for this performance so I wanted to try to add as much as I could within a live context to make the film more sonically interesting for the audience. I loved working with these sounds – manipulating them, using them to reinforce the drama unfolding on the screen.
While I was composing for the scenes of the film, I noticed that the music I was making was more atmospheric than my previous work, but I was happy with how it was coming out. I thought that writing music in this style would be a brief affair, but it was actually a turning point in my way of expressing myself. I had already been a listener of ambient music, but I had never tried to make music like that before. After that experience I found myself composing more and more music in an ambient/experimental style.
These are not the exact versions of what I performed live, but here are some examples of the songs that I created for the new soundtrack for ‘La Belle et la Bête’ which ended up on ‘Sotto Le Stelle’.
Had you considered a song oriented solo career because some would say that you had a strong visual presence with SOFT METALS which might have been suited to the social media environment of today? Or had you already tired of that side of the music business already?
To be honest, I was never comfortable with being in the role of ‘frontperson’, but with synthpop music I think people expect that sort of presentation especially when you are singing. I did have some fun with that persona, but it’s not something that I am interested in doing now.
My desire has always been to let people get lost in the music. I don’t want my image to be the focus. In the work that I do today I like to use nature or nature inspired imagery as much as possible. I want to draw attention to the beauty and complexity of the natural world so that people will feel inspired to appreciate and protect it. Understating my image may help others find a personal connection to the music. I do like seeing images of the artists that I admire so I am going to try to share a little bit of myself from time to time. I like to express ideas that are bigger than myself and then point to that.
How do you look back on SOFT METALS, was it all a valuable learning experience?
SOFT METALS was my first band and I have many fond memories associated with it. I did indeed learn a lot from that experience. We toured throughout North America and Europe and through those travels I learned so much more about the world. I am grateful for that and I’m so happy that I can continue to build upon those experiences with my solo project.
Is there a thread running through your current work from your past because beautiful textures and sound design were very much part of SOFT METALS’ sound.
Like you mentioned, textures and sound design are important elements of my current work. My most recent music as a solo artist better suits introspection where SOFT METALS made music better suited for social situations. You could dance and sing along if you wanted to and it was loud and active enough that people could drink and talk to their friends at a venue or party and it did not ruin the experience at all. My music now needs a much more intentional environment to be understood and appreciated, especially in the live context. It requires you to sit and listen more intentionally. I think that at some point I might make more ‘social’ music again now that the world feels more open and social, but I’ve been slow to get back to that.
There was a period of time between SOFT METALS ending and my albums coming out that I made techno for live performances supporting artists such as SILENT SERVANT and HEADLESS HORSEMAN, but I didn’t release those works. I made a lot of music that I had only performed live before the solo albums came out. I think at that time I was exploring what it meant to work alone. I suddenly had this freedom to do whatever I wanted and I also had to get used to performing alone, which was very scary at first!
One of the concerns that I had at first was that people would not be open to me working in another style of music. I decided to not let that stop me. My favourite musician is the late Ryuichi Sakamoto and one of the many things that I love about him was is open-minded approach to music and sound. He wasn’t afraid to jump from classical to pop, to sound art, to playful silly styles. If he found something interesting and inspiring he pounced on it and made something beautiful, fresh and exciting. I want to have that same freedom.
It was 2020 when you released your first ambient work in the live ‘Sotto Le Stelle’ EP that was originally part of ‘Close Up Non-Stop’ streamed performances at the Ferrara Sotto Le Stelle Festival in Italy. How was it to prepare material and perform in this remote way within the strange world that had emerged from the pandemic?
I was grateful for the opportunity to share my work and to connect with others around the world, especially during that isolating time. Previous to the lockdown I was going out to many shows each week and seeing my friends frequently.
I didn’t want to fall out of touch with people and this gave me a chance to stay connected to the music community that I love. Preparing the music was not a challenge as it was work that I had been performing live before the declaration of the pandemic. The biggest challenge was recording the video of the performance. I have little experience with video production, but I’d love to learn more about it.
Photo by Gina Roberti
You mixed synthesized sounds with field recordings on ‘Sotto Le Stelle’, what has fascinated you about capturing the aural environment?
The experience of hearing an environment with field recording equipment (mic, recorder, headphones) for the first time is unforgettable and exciting. Each subsequent experience contains that same magic. You suddenly have superhuman hearing.
It immediately draws you into the present moment. Whatever else is going on in your mind fades out and the real-time, present moment floods in and you notice the amazing world around you. What was once mundane is now spectacular! The world becomes hyperreal and it makes you question why you’re not listening to the world around you with so much attention at every conscious moment.
Field recording makes me sensitive to my environment and makes me question every sound around me, especially the anthropogenic ones that dominate the natural world. It makes me more conscious of the words that I speak and the tone and amplitude for each speaking situation. Since starting my practice of field recording I am now fascinated with the local birds. I am learning more about them and am better able to identify them by their songs and calls. It’s inspired me to take more action on environmental causes and to create a more welcoming habitat for them around my home. If I can entice listeners to draw a similar conclusion then I think there is hope that I can help people connect more deeply with the world around them.
Fast forward to 2022 and you released two albums, ‘I’ll Look For You In Others’ and ‘See-Through’ within 4 months of each other, had that been intentional?
Despite the two albums coming out closely together, they were completed about a year apart from one another. Each release was subject to the schedules of the pressing plants and that influenced when the albums were released. I can understand how it might seem that the two were made back to back, but there was about a year between them which explains why the feeling of them is so different. In retrospect I am glad that the two came out closely together because I do think it makes it easier for someone following those works to see the healing process, but at an accelerated rate.
I was in a really rough place emotionally when I wrote the first album. I was feeling lost and in unbearable emotional pain. I was trying so hard to find my way out of it. Fast forward about a year later and I was working on the material that went on to become ‘See-Through’. As you can hear, I did heal. It resulted in an album that’s much lighter and playful. At the time when I was writing ‘I’ll Look For You In Others’, I didn’t know if I’d ever feel that way again.
What did you encounter to inspire ‘Woodland Encounter’?
Nature itself. This song has a very tender feeling of love and awe which is how I feel about the natural world. The music represents the feeling I have when I’m walking in a natural environment and observe wildlife or a beautiful landscape.
Is ‘Springtime In Croatia’ autobiographical or inspired by your imagination?
It’s a bit of both. SOFT METALS played in Zagreb, Croatia in 2014 and we had a very nice experience there. Many people who came to the show met up with us the next day and took us on a tour of their city. They generously taught us about the history of their country. There was so much kindness and enthusiasm in the people that I met there. I was moved by this beautiful experience.
The field recording that is used in the song ‘Springtime In Croatia’ is by a Croatian field recordist named Ivo Vicic who indeed made that recording in the Croatian countryside during springtime. When I heard it I fell in love with the sound of the birds and water and immediately started playing along with it on my Novation Summit. The song has a romantic feeling to it which I associate with the springtime. The music has a feeling of tender love and longing. In one sense it’s representative of how it feels to me to be in love and on the other hand I wanted to say thank you to the people of Croatia for showing me such a nice time in their country by giving that song that title.
Acoustic guitar appears on ‘The Grotto’ while your voice acts as another instrument?
Yes! My brother left an acoustic guitar at my house after a visit and I decided to try to play it. I played a bit of guitar as a teenager so I knew how to tune it and how to play some chords. For years and years I have only worked with synthesizers and drum machines. I found it to be refreshing and inspiring to play so I just started layering these improvised strummings and chords. Processed through a lot of reverb and delay they had such a dreamy and romantic feel and I felt compelled to sing.
Your voice is very prominent on ‘A Conversation With My Innocence’ in an abstract manner, but do you miss singing and lyric writing?
I enjoyed the challenge of writing lyrics for songs, but I also feel like my lyrics often fall short of what I want to express. I like instrumental music for its ability to allow the meaning to be open to interpretation. Adding lyrics can restrict a song’s meaning, but if the lyrics are cleverly poetic and the song is beautifully sung it can be deeply affecting. Sometimes though, you either don’t feel comfortable saying explicitly how you feel or you can’t find the right words so music and abstract vocalisations fit better.
Photo by Max Wolf
‘The Mechanical Age’ has this wonderful sense of space about it, yet it is very melodic?
I’m glad that you like that one. It was inspired by my research into the late 1800s Paris while I was working as a sound designer for a VR game called ‘Walking A Turtle’ by Jeremy Rotsztain. It was the era of Exposition Universelle, the introduction of the phonograph, the telephone, the mechanised world, and industrialization. With my song ‘The Mechanical Age’ I wanted to capture the sense of wonder and curiosity people must have been feeling at that time.
‘Pacific Coast Highway’ is unusual in the context of ‘See-Through’ in that it features electronic beats?
That one is an outlier on the album, isn’t it! I remember at the time I made it I was looking at my Elektron Analog RYTM thinking, “Hey old friend! I haven’t forgotten about you!”. I was thinking back on a track that I had made years before but had never recorded. I wanted to try to recreate it just for fun and ended up making this song. I liked how it turned out and it reminded me of driving on the Pacific Coast Highway.
In terms of tools, what do you prefer to use now in composition and production?
I am very dedicated to my Novation Peak and Summit which I was an official sound designer for. It’s easy for me to express myself through those instruments and I still find so much inspiration with them.
Having worked with analog equipment a lot in the past, how do VSTs work for you?
I find them to be a nice complement to working with hardware/ analog synths. I mostly use VSTs that process sounds for example GRM Tools and Sound Magic Spectral. If you’re interested in sound design I think you should be open to all the available tools. I love working with a mixture of hardware and software. I make the broad strokes with my hardware synths and then refine things further using software.
How do you find the divide between streaming and physical product as an artist today, what are the pros and cons for you? Do you think they are actually different audiences for each?
I like the convenience of being able to stream music, but as someone who wants to have a deeper understanding of the music, get to know the artist and the team that was part of the work coming into being, I prefer physical releases or digital Bandcamp releases because they often come with so much more information. I wonder how many people who listen to music mainly on streaming sites get to know the artists that they are listening to. Do they know the artists’ names, the intent behind the albums, or is it now these days for some people just about finding the right ‘vibe’ to be in the background of their lives?
Bandcamp is the main place where I discover new music and it’s much easier to learn more about an artist and their work there. I love it when you can buy the physical release of an album and there’s so much information to absorb alongside the music.
Photo by Edward Pack Davee
Are there any other artistic directions which you would like to pursue? Does film soundtrack work interest you?
Yes, I would love to work on film soundtracks! I have done sound design work for video games and really enjoyed it. I think that the type of music that I make would work well in films.
What’s next for you?
This May, I will be supporting the great Bonnie Prince Billy on a tour of the Pacific Northwest. I am currently in the process of setting up a different tour in the fall with some European dates. Hopefully I can make it to the UK this time around. I’ve been working on new music and hopefully I will have a new album to share with the world this fall.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Patricia Wolf
Patricia Wolf opens for Bonnie Prince Billy on the following 2023 live dates:
Victoria Capital Ballroom (10th May), Vancouver St. James Community Square (11th May), Bellingham Wild Buffalo (12th May), Portland Aladdin Theater (14th May)
Today, electronic instrumental music is everywhere, but often in the form of tedious dance tracks with no tunes all over Beatport and social media.
Luckily, there are still exponents of the classic synth instrumental, and thanks to the rise of the Synthwave sub-genre, there is currently a sympathetic environment for more esoteric and melodic musical offerings. The key to a good instrumental is it either has to be very melodic to make up for the lack of vocals or very unobtrusive so that while the music is interesting enough to be listened to, it can also be ignored. Thus a Eurorack modular tutorial cannot credibly count as a valid release… 😉
As a follow-up to TEC’s 25 SYNTH INSTRUMENTALS Of The CLASSIC ERA, with a limit of one track per artist, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK presents its 25 FAVOURITE SYNTH INSTRUMENTALS Of The 21ST CENTURY in chronological and then alphabetical order…
SYSTEM F Insolation (2000)
While Dutch producer Ferry Corsten hit paydirt with international club hits such as ‘Out Of The Blue’ and ‘Cry’ as SYSTEM F, the debut album pointed towards the Trance’s link to electronic pop. As well as a brilliant collaboration with Marc Almond entitled ‘Soul On Soul’, the long player included the beautifully majestic classic instrumental ‘Insolation’ which took a breather from the usual four-to-the floor format.
PPK were a Russian trance duo comprising of Sergei Pimenov and Alexander Polyakov. The original melody of ‘ResuRection’ came from Eduard Artemyev’s synthesized theme from the epic 1979 Soviet movie ‘Siberiade’ which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. Easily mistaken for Jean-Michel Jarre, the thrusting seven minute ‘Perfecto Edit’ in particular was like an exuberant rocket launch set to music.
Originally released by Perfecto Records, currently unavailable
With a piercing synthphonic riff, scat vocoder, robotic bass and a rigid programmed beat, ‘Turn It On’ saw LADYTRON take a bleep forward with an attempt at a KRAFTWERK track for the 21st Century via Liverpool, Glasgow and Sofia. But as it headed towards its final third, it detoured back to Liverpool and turned into ‘Electricity’ in a cheeky homage to Merseyside’s original electronic trailblazers OMD.
A Norwegian electronic duo consisting of Aggie Peterson and Per Martinsen, FROST released their second album ‘Melodica’ to a positive response, thanks to some production assistance by RÖYKSOPP on two tracks. The beautiful Arctic serenity of ‘Klong’ featuring local trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær alongside layers of gorgeous crystalline synths was one of the album’s highlights that easily outdid anything by GROOVE ARMADA and didn’t rely on using samples either.
Available on the album ‘Melodica’ via Frost World Recordings
‘Destroy Rock & Roll’ was the debut album by Scottish DJ Myles MacInnes that alongside DAFT PUNK and BASEMENT JAXX, summed up the sample laden dance music that was prevalent at the time. Produced on a computer in his own bedroo, the album’s best track however was the more downtempo, Moby-esque richness of ‘Emotion 96.8’ with its beautiful sweeping synth melodies and unobtrusive rhythm structure.
With a hypnotic Motorik rhythm, pulsating bleeps and spacey whirs driving a moodier template along the lines of cult German experimentalists EMAK, Phil and Paul Hartnoll continued their primarily instrumental template on their ‘Blue Album’, although SPARKS contributed vocals to a totally unrelated track called ‘Acid Pants’. The brothers split shortly after the long player’s release, but returned in 2009 to play The Big Chill Festival.
Available on the album ‘Blue Album’ via Orbital Music
From ‘Hymn’ to ‘First Cool Hive’ to ‘A Seated Night’, the man born Richard Melville Hall is a master of the instrumental. The solemn ‘Homeward Angel’ closed Moby’s sample-less song-based ‘Hotel’ album with a solemn yet uplifting slice of mood music that was incongruous with the main act. Since leaving Mute in 2008, his more recent self-released albums such as ‘Destroyed’ and ‘Innocents’ have displayed this more esoteric quality.
A ten minute instrumental epic, ‘Alpha Male’ came from RÖYKSOPP’s under rated second long player, a collection of music that saw Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland moving away from the chill-out climes of ‘Melody AM’ into much darker sonic territory. The track’s lengthy ambient intro was interrupted by a mighty metronomic beat and the sort of progressive synth overtures that would have made Jean-Michel Jarre proud.
Since his musical return in 1997 with ‘Shifting City’, John Foxx has practically had albums coming out of his ears in song-based, ambient and soundtrack formats, both solo and in collaboration with other artists. The spacey mechanical Schaffel of ‘Kurfurstdendam’ came from an imaginary soundtrack he called ‘Tiny Colour Movies’, inspired by a friend’s birthday screening of a private film collection comprising of random surveillance clips and offcuts from Hollywood.
Few acts actually genuinely sound like their name… SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN, which translates as “the last man in space”, is the solo project of Swedish synthpop trailblazer Eddie Bengtsson, he of PAGE and S.P.O.C.K fame. The frantic ‘Space-Elevator’ with its swimmy string synths and Sci-Fi derived melody acted as an effective Moroder-esque interlude on his excellent sixth album ‘Tredje Våningen’ and also featured ‘Allt Är Klart’ which borrowed off the ULTRAVOX instrumental ‘Alles Klar’.
Borrowing the distinctive bassline from SIMPLE MINDS’ 1981 single ‘Love Song’, TENEK put together this lively instrumental for their debut EP. With a modern mechanical groove coupled to their trademark synth rock, the almost funky ‘Ice Fields’ became an early live favourite, although the duo have focussed on more song based adventures for their three albums to date, ‘Stateless’, ‘On The Wire’ and ‘Smoke & Mirrors’.
In 2007, Andreas Kleerup, producer and one-time drummer for THE MEAT BOYS, undertook his first mainstream collaboration with fellow Swede Robyn. The success of ‘With Every Heartbeat’ led to the recording of his self-titled debut album which featured a number of brilliant instrumentals. ‘Hero’ was its perfect start and with a solid bassline and strong choral timbres, it had the vibe of how OMD might have sounded if they had formed in the 21st Century.
While most of the ‘Tron Legacy’ soundtrack was orchestrated by Joseph Trapanese, DAFT PUNK’s spiky electronics and drum machine were kept in alongside the epic strings for the end titles of the sequel to the 1982 movie ‘Tron’. There were nods to Wendy Carlos who composed the original film score, with Thomas Bangalter focusing on the heroic themes while Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo was more inclined to generating the darker elements.
Available on the soundtrack album ‘Tron Legacy’ via Walt Disney Records
Forming in 2001, Swedish duo 047 began their chiptune experiments thought a mutual appreciation of vintage video games. But after their debut long player, Peter Engström and Sebastian Rutgersson began to incorporate melodic song based elements and vocals into their music. The end results led to the impressive second album ‘Elva’, but they celebrated their chiptune influenced roots with the jolly YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA salute of ‘Kanpai!’
‘The E-Bay Queen Is Dead’ was collection of rarities from the MARSHEAUX archives. While Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou have done a fair number of cover versions in their time, they are not really known for doing instrumentals. But the electro-boppy ‘Now & Never’ was a very promising wordless demo that Vince Clarke would have approved of; as one of his former DEPECHE MODE colleagues once sang: “words are very unnecessary…”
Fusing Detroit techno with more European experimental forms, Patricia Hall and Ian Hicks’ second SOFT METALS album ‘Lenses’ featured the fabulous instrumental ‘Hourglass’. As Hall put it: “I really wanted to write lyrics for that one, but was never quite satisfied with what I came up with. I decided it would be better to let that one be an instrumental. I think it holds up on its own. It’s nice to give the listener a chance to interpret its meaning on its own rather than direct them with words”.
Available on the album ‘Lenses’ via Captured Tracks
Anais Neon and Martin Swan’s tribute to ‘Assault On Precinct 13’, ‘The future through a lens’ was a moody but booming instrumental that began their excellent debut longer player of the same name, which later netted a Schallewelle Award for ‘Best International Album’ in 2014. With their vast array of analogue synthesizers and exquisite taste for sound textures, it won’t be too surprising if VILE ELECTRODES aren’t offered some soundtrack opportunities in the near future.
Although making his name within EDM circles, the Norwegian producer born Todd Olsen paid a musical tribute to ‘Back To The Future’ and its futuristic gull-wing doored Delorean DMC-12 car with this suitably driving Synthwave instrumental. Unlike other so-called dance producers, Terje is conversant with electronic music history and possesses a wry sense of humour, as evidenced by the witty wordplay of track titles like ‘Inspector Norse’ and his own DJ moniker.
After the first phase of BLANCMANGE, Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe worked within the TV and film industry, scoring soundtracks and incidental music. Although best known for his voice, Neil Arthur’s instrumentals have been a continual form of expression. The brilliant ‘Cistern’ comes over like an imaginary Bond Theme for a retro-futuristic world. The wordless wonder that is the parent album ‘Nil By Mouth’ is an unsung masterpiece.
Adam Cresswell’s sombre vocals and the darker lyrical themes on his debut Rodney Cromwell album ‘Age Of Anxiety’ took a breather with the bright and breezy ‘Baby Robot’. With sweet synthesizer melodies, pretty glints of glockenspiel and a bouncy beatbox, the instrumental was inspired by birth of his son. “Yes, ‘Baby Robot’ is the one track on the album that’s 100% upbeat as it is about the experience of being a father” he gleefully said.
While Danish duo DARKNESS FALLS are better known for their melancholic Nordic vocals and neo-gothic overtones on songs like ‘The Void’, the dark synthy instrumental ‘Thunder Roads’ proved to be one of the most striking tracks on their second album ‘Dance & Cry’. With a punchy drum machine mantra and menacing reverberant sequence, it was augmented by guitar screeches and sombre six string basslines reminiscent of JOY DIVISION and THE CURE.
Available on the album ‘Dance & Cry’ via Fake Diamond Records
JEAN-MICHEL JARRE & BOYZ NOISE The Time Machine (2015)
Jean-Michel Jarre’s first album for since ‘Teo & Tea’ in 2007 was a two volume opus entitled ‘Electronica’; it features collaborations with a number of synth pioneers and modern day dance artists including BOYZ NOISE aka Berlin DJ Alexander Ridha. This climactic track took on a new life as the set closer on the French synth maestro’s ‘Electronica’ world tour, with a lasered 3D visual feast that required no special glasses! BUT BEWARE OF FLASHING IMAGES! 😉
Available on the album ‘Electronica 1 – The Time Machine’ via Columbia Records
The horror film king recorded his ‘Lost Themes’ series in collaboration with his son Cody and his godson Daniel Davies as standalone pieces, without the pressure of having to put the music to moving images. The second volume was completed on a tighter schedule to accompany a world concert tour and thus replicated some of the challenging moods in his soundtrack work with tracks like ‘Utopian Façade’ recalling his classic movie soundscapes.
Dixon and Stein are members of the Texan group SURVIVE and their accompanying music to ‘Stranger Things’, a cross between ‘ET’, ‘The Goonies’ and ‘Alien’, sent electronic music fans into online meltdown with its use of vintage analogue synths. With a soundtrack influenced by the horror flicks of Dario Argento and of course John Carpenter, the one minute opening title music to the acclaimed drama series said all that was needed to be said in its brooding dissonant tones.
As would be expected from a title like ‘Klangfarben’, this vibrant instrumental from Dublin trio TINY MAGNETIC PETS is an enjoyable homage to Germanic music forms, with a loose percussive feel that still maintains that vital degree of Motorik. A word meaning “soundcolour”, it refers to a technique whereby a musical line is split between several instruments, rather than assigning it to just one instrument, thereby adding timbre and texture to proceedings.
SOFT METALS delightfully impressed with their debut London gig at The Shacklewell Arms in Daltson.
The LA based duo have felt an affinity with Europe since their ‘The Cold World Melts’ EP released in 2010. Indeed, the title of one the tracks ‘Métaux Mous’ (French for “Soft Metals”) summed up their enthralling angelic mix of Detroit techno fused with minimal European synth forms as influenced by the likes of THROBBING GRISTLE and its offshoot CHRIS & COSEY.
And that’s not forgetting to mention the style of singer Patricia Hall with its nods to fashion icons such as Françoise Hardy. SOFT METALS made further in-roads with their first self-titled full length album in 2011 and its naturally progressive follow-up ‘Lenses’ released last year.
For this European tour, instrumentalist Ian Hicks’ arsenal of vintage synths and drum machines was simplified to feature a more straightforward, modern but still analogue set-up that was obviously easier to carry but no less punchy. Meanwhile, as well as providing her innocent reverbed vocals, Patricia Hall had a Dave Smith Mopho x4 at her disposal instead of her usual Juno60 and added some icy string machine sections to the bright and danceable electronic sketches that came forth.
SOFT METALS’ repeating rhythms, incessant blips and uplifting arpeggios on tracks such as ‘Voices’, ‘Lenses’ and ‘Always’ were powerful and crisp although occasionally, Patricia Hall’s vocals did struggle to be heard.
But this did not hinder her flirtatious enthusiasm as she occasionally ventured toward her studious musical partner in the engine room, clearly enjoying her first time performing in London. ‘Psychic Driving’ and ‘When I Look Into Your Eyes’ allowed for some dreamy breathers in the middle amongst all the frantic action but it was the final part of the set that stole the show.
The wonderful ‘Tell Me’ totally mesmerised the audience into a trance, the detuned bursts providing a arty counterpoint to the dance while the sexy ‘In the Air’ provided a euphoric climax with Ian Hicks controlling the various pulsing layers to provide the dynamic highs and lows for a perfectly hypnotic finish.
But there was more as the good looking couple threw in a brilliantly alluring club friendly version of THROBBING GRISTLE’s ‘Hot On The Heels Of Love’ as a bonus.
With the likes of TRUST, FEATHERS, AUSTRA, GRIMES, NIGHT CLUB, I AM SNOW ANGEL and ELEVEN: ELEVEN proving that North America is currently the proving ground for new, quality electronic pop music, SOFT METALS more than confirmed that they were part of this elite group with this first London performance.
The albums ‘Soft Metals’ and ‘Lenses’ are released by Captured Tracks and available in CD, vinyl and download formats
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are released by Captured Tracks and available in CD, vinyl and download formats
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