Simon Haydo Redux

We live in the era of 'more'. We spend our days trying to keep up with a seemingly infinite range of links to follow, pictures to see, sounds to hear, places to go, objects to desire, events to anticipate, heroes to cherish and villains to loath. But rather than freeing, too many options can become paralyzing. Consequently, we often find ourselves frustrated because of the experiences we will never have... without even knowing what we really want. The same goes with music creation in digital environments. Too many possibilities can also mean a tyranny of the "what if...". In this light, celebrating 'less' becomes vital. And that's exactly what swedish producer and Studio Barnhus affiliate Simon Haydo does in 'Redux'. All of the sounds in the album's nine tracks come from just one synth: the Korg MS20. As Simon puts it, the idea was to "maximize the use of less, basically. Less gear, less effects, less input from other people, less everything."Using only between 2 and 6 channels for every track, the result is a stripped but surprisingly rich sound, that delineates spatial Techno vignettes coated with the unmistakable charac- ter of the MS20 filters. Even more interestingly, this restraint is not only applied gear-wise, but also from an emotional point of view. "Instead of involving my own feelings, I let the voice of the MS20 take care of it", says Simon. All this makes 'Redux' an expression of techno in its purest form. After all, it's a kind of music that has always gravitated around simplicity, austerity and, of course, the believe that the machines have their own soul.