Dennis Huddleston, aka electronic artist 36, makes electronic music in the grand tradition of trailblazers like Edgar Froese, Klaus Schulze, and Jean-Michel Jarre. And what I mean by that is 36 works on grand scales, building crystalline sound worlds where one gets lost for a bit. Where some ambient feels like slow motion cloud formation overlooking some existential chasm, Huddleston’s music emanates a kind of ethereal light. The music is big, ecstatic, and wholly all encompassing.
36 has built a vast discography over the last nearly 15 years, releasing albums on A Strangely Isolated Place, Huddleston’s own 3six imprint, and with Past Inside The Present. His latest is Reality Engine, and was released with PITP. It’s the third in Huddleston’s “synth trilogy”, and continues what the previous volumes laid out for us. All-encompassing sounds and ghostly melodies, building a universe of sound seemingly from the ether. It’s quite the beautiful journey.
According to Past Inside The Present, “36 touches on themes of sound machines that create immersive digital experiences, augmented reality engines that overlay digital content onto the real world, and powerful forces that shapes emotions, perceptions, and connections.”
Over the course of these 10 tracks on Reality Engine, 36 wastes no time pulling us into his world. “Imagine The Truth” opens with a sonic bloom; a synthetic sunrise over some far-reaching ocean, light spreading over effervescent mirrors of water. “Axiom Haze” emanates a kind of robotic melancholy, as if the machines become sentient and absorb the worry and anxiety that comes with being human. Title track “Reality Engine” spreads across the soundscape like mysterious shadows forming in the wake of clouds rolling in to hide the light.
The great thing about Reality Engine is that these pieces are bite-size. 3 to 4 minute songs that seemingly hold within them individual worlds of mystery and hazy dream-like soundscapes. There’s the feeling of getting lost in a dream, wandering through the mystery and subconscious of the mind. Your own mind? Someone else’s mind? Or the sentience of artificial intelligence? It’s hard to tell. But songs like “Beyond The Hyperreal”, “State Space”, and the heady indifference of album closer “Everything & Nothing” makes the journey all the more engaging and thought-provoking.
36 has proven over the course of nearly 15 years that he has a profound ability to build these sonic chapels. Musical monoliths that hang in the air for us to be engulfed in. Reality Engine is a world of sound that walks the line between dream and lucidity. It’s the feeling of rapture and understanding, right before our eyes open to the world beyond our minds.
Complex Distractions 