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Music

Tycho Dropped a Brand New Album While You Were Sleeping

We also caught up with frontman Scott Hansen for a quick chat about life, post-release.
Photo by Lauren Crew.

Tycho's ambient-meets-instrumental-electronic-rock music is perfect for the transition between seasons—so it's no wonder that late last night he surprise released a brand new album, Epoch, in the days where late summer's warm air gives way to the cool breeze and falling leaves of autumn. Helmed by Scott Hansen, the group currently operates as a three-piece production front with Zac Brown contributing bass and guitar parts to the songwriting of the LP, and Rory O'Connor performing drums.

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Released on Ghostly International, the album marks the final full-length in trilogy starting with 2011's Dive and 2014's Awake, a period of releases that have seen Hansen become a regular top-billing at countless festivals worldwide. Following a couple enjoyable THUMP listens of the album this morning, we caught up with Hansen over email for a quick chat about life, post-release.

THUMP: You dropped the album at midnight when most people in America were sleeping or getting ready for bed. Did you stay up all night in anticipation, or finally pass out when it was out there?
Tycho: [The album] came out as we were finishing up our set in Oxford, Mississippi so I was definitely anxious to see the reaction. I stayed up pretty late working on design assets for the release and keeping an eye on how everything was going.

What are some environments in which you imagine people listening to the album in the coming days.
For me the music conveys a sense of motion and is evocative of the feeling I get in rural spaces. But my hope is always that people make the music their own and experience it in their own way.

How do you feel about album feedback in general? Is it something you think about a lot?
I try not to fall into the trap of letting the outside world's opinion of the work shape my own perception of it. But I do think there is some value in taking criticism and trying to make something constructive out of it. I definitely took a lot of the things I read about Awake into consideration when thinking about what I wanted this album to be, it was motivation to do better I guess.

You were just at Burning Man a couple weeks back. Any good stories for us?
Sadly I was only able to be there for 24 hours this year and it fell right during the week we were finishing the album. It was still a great experience, I drove out there with my brother, played a couple sets, took a nap and drove back to the studio. The sunrise set on the Dusty Rhino is always an incredible experience. This year was the best one yet I think.

Finally, how do you plan to spend the weekend?
We have the release show in Dallas tonight and then a show tomorrow in El Paso so I'll mostly be focused on those. We get a day off in Las Vegas in a few days though, which will be a nice break.

Tycho's ambient-meets-instrumental-electronic-rock music is perfect for the transition between seasons—so it's no wonder that late last night he surprise released a brand new album, Epoch, in the days where late summer's warm air gives way to the cool breeze and falling leaves of autumn. Helmed by Scott Hansen, the group currently operates as a three-piece production front with Zac Brown contributing bass and guitar parts to the songwriting of the LP, and Rory O'Connor performing drums.

Released on Ghostly International, the album marks the final full-length in trilogy starting with 2011's Dive and 2014's Awake, a period of releases that have seen Hansen become a regular top-billing at countless festivals worldwide. Following a couple enjoyable THUMP listens of the album this morning, we caught up with Hansen over email for a quick chat about life, post-release.

THUMP: You dropped the album at midnight when most people in America were sleeping or getting ready for bed. Did you stay up all night in anticipation, or finally pass out when it was out there?
Tycho: [The album] came out as we were finishing up our set in Oxford, Mississippi so I was definitely anxious to see the reaction. I stayed up pretty late working on design assets for the release and keeping an eye on how everything was going.

What are some environments in which you imagine people listening to the album in the coming days.
For me the music conveys a sense of motion and is evocative of the feeling I get in rural spaces. But my hope is always that people make the music their own and experience it in their own way.

How do you feel about album feedback in general? Is it something you think about a lot?
I try not to fall into the trap of letting the outside world's opinion of the work shape my own perception of it. But I do think there is some value in taking criticism and trying to make something constructive out of it. I definitely took a lot of the things I read about Awake into consideration when thinking about what I wanted this album to be, it was motivation to do better I guess.

You were just at Burning Man a couple weeks back. Any good stories for us?
Sadly I was only able to be there for 24 hours this year and it fell right during the week we were finishing the album. It was still a great experience, I drove out there with my brother, played a couple sets, took a nap and drove back to the studio. The sunrise set on the Dusty Rhino is always an incredible experience. This year was the best one yet I think.

Finally, how do you plan to spend the weekend?
We have the release show in Dallas tonight and then a show tomorrow in El Paso so I'll mostly be focused on those. We get a day off in Las Vegas in a few days though, which will be a nice break.