From the artist:
My goal for the EP was to make an honest expression of emotion through music, while also highlighting the features of the Subharmonicon in a tasteful way.
I spent a few months getting to know the Subharmonicon and eventually decided to make tracks based around live performance and effects processing. Beyond the actual sound of the synth, the sequencer struck me as something that was important to highlight. It might be most evident on the track “freya.” I really wanted to highlight the rhythmic capabilities, as well as the melodic capabilities, especially with external CV modulation.
My attempt was to process the emotions I was feeling this summer. Watching the protests for social justice unfold, living in a pandemic, an anniversary of a death of a loved one, not having seen any friends for months and months. Instead of making something melancholic, I wanted to make something calm, but also sincere. Something to ease the anxieties of the current trying times.
Each track on the EP started off as a single live take with the Subharmonicon, running through a Strymon Magneto delay recorded onto cassette tape. After I would land an initial take I liked, I decided to add overdubs playing the Subharmonicon by hand, rather than using the sequencer. For me, this was a way to add an extra bit of expression and a human touch to the wholly sequenced parts. I also ran a lot of the parts through granular processors like Mutable Instruments Clouds and Instruo Arbhar and kind of slowly sculpted the tracks out that.
You can still hear the initial live takes on each track, surrounded by a constellation of overdubs and processes. The initial track is a call and the overdubs are a response.
I really loved the process. It was good to get out of my comfort zone and also work with a relatively minimal set of tools.
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Read the full Moog Music + r beny interview here:
moogmusic.com/news/r-beny-subharmonicon-ep
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100% of the proceeds from album sales will be donated to Children's Music Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing music therapy into the lives of sick children to help overcome pain, fear, and anxiety. Visit
thecmf.org to learn more.