Del Stephen rides a streetcar across Toronto in the pre-dawn early light of The Golden Hour.
FAVOURITE TRACKS:
Toronto must be so hectic. So many people, so much concrete. Such high rent. Such a struggle to get by. I gotta say I’ve never really wanted to live there. Good music venues are shutting down. Capitalism rears it’s ugly head, punishing us again and again. How do you find the beauty?
The Golden Hour, the latest release by Del Stephen, synth player and found-sound recuperator, finds beauty in the stillness of Toronto before it wakes up and rises from bed. I can’t say I’ve ridden a streetcar early in the morning, but these three lengthy synth jams all pay tribute to a meditative peacefulness; one I imagine someone might feel while riding the line, watching the world slowly rise and go about its day.
I imagine insomnia in Toronto and having an apartment with some sparse furnishings. A place where you can spread your synths out on the floor, your tape decks and other music devices, and record into the wee hours of the morning. That time of the day and night when you can carve out peace and calmness in a world that takes it away from you every chance it gets. When summer days are hot and evenings cool you off just enough to wear a t-shirt, brew some tea, and get down to creating musical trances.
