Solvent

Solvent is Toronto post-techno producer Jason Amm, who releases melodic electronica under that name through his own <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Suction%22">Suction</a> label, co-founded with friend and label partner <a href="spotify:artist:24fogs8vZ15dZ9jWOg6Lg2">Gregory DeRocher</a> (aka <a href="spotify:artist:24fogs8vZ15dZ9jWOg6Lg2">Lowfish</a>) in 1997. Traceable to a number of nonexclusive influences spanning the last 20-odd years of elecronic music (early electro-pop innovators such as <a href="spotify:artist:6y1jbhyM2QbpU3Bm8Z8fbe">the Normal</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:67Ae8At3iU8xCN9nw5ozwN">Liaisons Dangereuse</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0EPf9vAXPdFV5Ezp1sMX8B">Visage</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6aq8T2RcspxVOGgMrTzjWc">Soft Cell</a>), <a href="spotify:artist:5qLSqzqiH39RCZVrXsgWgq">Amm</a>'s music is a fidgety, lo-fi fusion of the range of those influences combined with strains of current post-techno comparable to <a href="spotify:artist:6kBDZFXuLrZgHnvmPu9NsG">Aphex Twin</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6WH1V41LwGDGmlPUhSZLHO">Autechre</a>. Solvent contributed three tracks to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Suction%22">Suction</a>'s first 12" before the label issued his self-titled debut CD in 1998. A mixture of warm, melodic, reassuring melodies and by turns mellow and harsh rhythms, the CD drew instant comparisons to <a href="spotify:artist:6kBDZFXuLrZgHnvmPu9NsG">Aphex Twin</a>, although also apparent were the influences of <a href="spotify:artist:1G1mX30GpUJqOr1QU2eBSs">Yaz</a> and early <a href="spotify:artist:1aX2dmV8XoHYCOQRxjPESG">Human League</a>. A split 7" with like-minded (if not like-sounding) Italian duo <a href="spotify:artist:3nEL9Ylglfn3CY6CbWZx11">D'Arcangelo</a> followed in 1999, as did another split with label partner <a href="spotify:artist:24fogs8vZ15dZ9jWOg6Lg2">Lowfish</a> on German/British label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22City+Centre+Offices%22">City Centre Offices</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:5qLSqzqiH39RCZVrXsgWgq">Amm</a> also contributed Solvent material to compilations on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Spelunk%22">Spelunk</a>, Lo Recordings, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Vinyl+Communications%22">Vinyl Communications</a>, and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Serotonin%22">Serotonin</a>, and released his second full-length, Solvently One Listens, at the end of 1999. The next decade brought numerous single releases, DJ mixes, collaborative efforts, and compilation appearances, as well as full-length albums Solvent City (2001), Apples + Synthesizers (2004), and Subject to Shift (2010). Beginning in 2011, <a href="spotify:artist:5qLSqzqiH39RCZVrXsgWgq">Amm</a> began work on a documentary film about the history of modular synthesizers and the culture that grew around them. The resultant film, I Dream of Wires, saw its realization in 2013, and was soundtracked completely with music scored by Solvent on modular synthesizers. ~ Sean Cooper & Fred Thomas, Rovi