Having chased many a sunrise with Dive and Awake as our soundtrack, our surprise when the Sunrise Ambient King Scott Hansen suddenly released Epoch was more than evident. As the title suggest, his fifth album continues the saga of what we’ve come to know from Tycho while adding clear influences from his life. While his previous releases leaned toward electro-pop and shoegaze, Epoch draws on heavier sounds and rougher edges. The drums hit harder, the beats drive longer, the pacing is faster; it all eludes more to a moon-rise sense.

The title track and ‘Receiver’ evoke much of what we’d expect to hear from a sunrise in Blackrock City; there’s no doubt his multiple sunrise sets there have influenced their production. Tracks like ‘Source’ and ‘Rings’ draw heavily on the hard hitting and rapid drumming of liquid D’n’B while still maintaining his well-known loftiness. Still, there’s no deny the classic ambient etherealism is still present; openers ‘Glider’ and ‘Horizon’ pay homage to that.

Tycho – Epoch (right click-> open new)