Stewart’s work as Machinedrum might be stylistically diverse, but at its core, the project revolves around three fundamentals: samples, synths and beats. It makes sense, then, that he’s revived a separate alias for his latest project, which drops the latter two elements and embraces an ambient, neo-classical vibe that sounds a little like what you’d get if you locked Philip Glass in a room with a bag of weed, a laptop and a Splice subscription.
Inspired by the spiritual nourishment that LA’s Elysian Park provides Stewart amid the oppressive thrum of the city, Elysian threads intricate, meticulously programmed melodies into a minimalist patchwork, cascading arpeggios that soar into the stratosphere, carrying the listener upwards, away from the smog and into the Californian sunset.
As part of the project, Stewart produced a Dolby Atmos mix of the album, using advanced techniques and processes – spatial LFO modulation, immersive 3D reverb – to explore how the creative potential of Atmos could be used to expand and reimagine his own sound. Speaking to the producer from Los Angeles, we found out more about how this new approach opened up radical compositional possibilities.
The new release is under a different alias to your
