Garage rocker turned lo-fi beat maker, Chris Bartles releases a new synthwave album entitled “Wavism”
Chris Bartles doesn’t seem to know how to stop working. The Minneapolis-based producer has been the creative force behind various projects, including Elskavon, Lumado, Blurstem, Bora York and Glass Echoes. His musical range spans everything from garage rock to synth pop.
Under his new moniker, Mum Child, Chris explores the more ambient lo-fi side of his sound. The way he describes his new album, Wavism, is like this: “imagine if lo-fi and synthwave had a baby.”
…I think that pretty much sums it up.
The album was inspired in part by the iconic Drive soundtrack. It taps into that nostalgic 80s sound by using steady synth arpeggios with retro melodies layered on top.
“I stumbled on a fusion of styles and sounds accidentally while playing around in studio one late afternoon,” explains Bartles. “‘“’Cardinal Sine Wave’ was the first accident, leading to the idea of creating a longer album journey swimming in the analog wobbliness and lo-fi sensibilities found on Wavism: Fuzzy, warm, nostalgic experimentation with unique sampling and synthesis. With the unintentional breeding of inspirations, rules are thrown out the window with song form and genre walls, lending to an emphasis of studio eccentricity blended with summer-esque melodic synthesizer hooks.”
Check out the first two single from Wavism below, and look out for the full album later this year.
