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Artist
Orca Life
12+ albums
droneambientnoiseexperimentalsynth
about
There’s something inherently artificial to be found within the cables and veins of electronic music. Whether it’s the wired, circuitous pathways or programmed effects, these sounds are often misconstrued as either being too clinical or prone to harmonic sterility. But as Orca Life, electronic synthesist and Wise, VA native Chris Roberts creates music that thumps and swells in measured movements, with a beating, experimental heart pumping electronic pulses through a host of twisting synapses. Employing a host of synthetic resources, Roberts carefully constructs, and subsequently deconstructs, a spread of minimalist drones and static-drenched melodies, while subtle streaks of rhythmic interchange occur at irregular intervals. This seemingly spontaneous exploration of tone and form places his work alongside such artists as Tim Hecker and William Basinski—artists whose work seems to inhabit some formless region of electronic space which few musicians are able to successfully approach and fewer still can shape for their own purposes. Having released his latest album,” Modern Living,” in 2013 via tape haven Chill Mega Chill Records, Roberts has continued to refine and develop his own circuit-based aesthetic. But rather than let the ambient sounds and textures of his previous work simply repeat themselves, he has incorporated a far more dynamic percussive backbone on “Modern Living” than on any prior album. Further cementing his position as an innovator in electronic experimental
