In a decidedly Howard Jones-like move, Ottawa’s Area Resident (Doug Hempstead) waited just over a month before following up his most recent album Orgone with a brand-new EP.
Transmute means to “change in form, meaning or structure” and this five-song EP manages all those things. Hempstead connected with fellow Ottawa recording artist / public servant Paul Anthony after having just reviewed the double LP Infinite Jest, which Anthony released under the name Wilhaeven this past summer.
Anthony agreed to have a go at remixing a few Area Resident songs. The five tracks on Transmute represent this effort. While the bulk of Anthony’s material (as Wilhaeven, Rigid Body Dynamics, Fables, Canada High, Equal Ways) via Disown Me Recordings and Rising High Records can be described as electronic, this new EP sounds anything but. Even though it is. And it’s not AI, either. It sounds like alt-folk. Maybe even alt-bluegrass.
Anthony wrote and recorded all the music, based upon stems of five different Area Resident songs — New Carburetor Yer Golden, Quasar, Operation Cue, Delano and For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky. The songs have been retitled and include Hempstead’s remixed original vocals. He and Anthony have yet to meet in person.
The artwork is by Hempstead’s partner Chelle Lorenzen (heyChelle.com)
The EP was mastered by Jordon Zadorozny (Blinker The Star) at Skylark Park in Pembroke Ont.
Look for Transmute on your favourite streaming service on Oct. 4. Meanwhile, check out Stuck Inside above, listen to Orgone below and try to keep up with Area Resident on his Instagam, Twitter and Facebook.
