Synthplex 2019: The First Big Show
It was a new beginning…
In the spring of 2019, SINEDRIFTER was invited to perform at Synthplex 2019 in Burbank, California, which was headlined by legendary electronic musicians Thomas Dolby and BT, and produced by Michael Lehmann Boddicker and Mike Learmouth.
So, what is Synthplex? Well, here’s an excerpt from the event’s website:
“Synthplex is a [sic] brand new annual “All Things Synthesizer” festival/event that you have been waiting for! Synth enthusiasts rejoice! We are bringing you great experiences and events such as: Trade Show Exhibits (where you can buy gear!!), Educational & Technology Seminars, Synthesizer History Lectures, Master Q&A Sessions with Industry Legends (synth & keyboard performers, soundtrack composers, sound designers, legendary synth designers, etc.), DIY synth building workshops, Live Synth Concerts all weekend long, a Pop-up Synth Museum featuring some rare synths that you can touch, and also a Gala Dinner Banquet with live performances and a key note speaker.”
At Synthplex, SINEDRIFTER went full multimedia. Cam Arjent explains:
“I wanted special visuals to go along with the music, so my wife Dot, who also plays live guitars and synths for SINEDRIFTER, helped me produce a sort of visual composition that was projected onto a large screen above the main stage. She is an expert puppeteer and a visionary artist, so we melded scenes involving her and her puppets, and a narrative kind of flowed from there. Imagine black-and-white scenes, just kind of connected and shared during the show.” Arjent spent 4 months learning how to use an Elektron Octatrack Mark II, which was the sole instrument they used at Synthplex. They sampled their own Moog Minimoog, Roland SH-101, Nord Lead 3, and other synths, sources, and drum machines in their studio to compose the different parts, or “movements,” as Arjent puts it, of the set. All in all, it represented a broad experiment for SINEDRIFTER. “Up until that point, my performances were ambient and avant-garde. At Synthplex, I wrote something that moved a little more. So, with the added challenge of learning a new – and complicated, for me – instrument like the Octatrack, which is no longer in the studio, this was a big step for the SINEDRIFTER project.”
For Arjent, it marked a significant shift for their project:
“In 2016, SINEDRIFTER began performing live in the Los Angeles area. These were straightforward ambient sets involving a minimal setup: an Elektron Digitone (Yira) doing FM synthesis based on sine waves, a laptop to trigger any samples and sometimes record the performance via an RME Fireface 400, and a mic. It was a lot of fun, as I got to talk to people after the show and hear their thoughts, and get to know them. For some of these events, we had painters come and paint during the performance. Afterwards, I would go around and see what they came up with and wow, my favorite part of these shows was meeting the artists! Hopefully, we get to restart these ‘Painting with Synths’ events again soon after the pandemic resolves.”
Shortly thereafter, SINEDRIFTER was invited to produce soundtracks for a number of experimental video games and virtual reality experiences, and stage productions. “Synthplex really helped me ‘break through,’ I suppose, what I thought was my sound. The Elektron Octatrack MkII, for all of its quirks and idiosyncracies, really forced me to change my approach to production. One thing is to write and straight up compose in a sort of linear manner. Another is to arrange samples, and commit to only using samples, which was completely unfamiliar territory. Afterwards, I felt like the time had come to really take the next step. Hence, along with the multimedia, video games, and theater productions I got involved with, I decided to commit to writing an album like OF(F) COURSE, which will be released on 1 December 2020. Our second release, our new new EP, which is titled APOLLO 89, is also a product of this release from what I see now as what was a way-too-rigid work flow, to something that’s more open. I’m embracing production that involves my own samples here and there, along with the linear compositional approach that I am used to and have always enjoyed.”
Both of SINEDRIFTER’s new albums, OF(F) COURSE and APOLLO 89, will be available for purchase and download on sinedrifter.com starting 1 December 2020, with streaming services and other online outlets to follow soon thereafter. For more information, please send your enquiries via the CONTACT page.