Bellingham artist AeTopus Releases iota, an Abstract Electronic Album Pulsing with PNW Energy and Interconnectedness

PORTLAND, OR, UNITED STATES, February 21, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- As if energetically-charged by the pure Pacific Northwestern rains, the new album, iota, delivers a refreshing 12-track electronic set by Bellingham, WA-based AeTopus. Debuting the music this week on Echoes Radio, John Diliberto opined, "His latest album takes electronics into off-center rhythms and melodies that begin in abstraction and evolve into quiet grandeur."

AeTopus is the innovative music project of Bryan Tewell Hughes, a multi-media artist whose music is influenced as much by art, nature, and the human experience as it is by a singular idea or moment in his life. His creative processes include synths, samples, live percussion and found sounds. "Sometimes I feel like a hybrid of old-school '90s synth enthusiast and kid who runs around with an Ableton laptop in a backpack," he says. "My style kind of depends on using what's around me, and keeping my setup nimble."

iota is AeTopus' second release on the popular ambient electronic label, Spotted Peccary Music, and his 11th release overall. It is available worldwide now in CD, digital streaming, mP3, and hi-resolution downloadable formats at SpottedPeccary.com, Bandcamp, and all quality music platforms shared here: https://orcd.co/iota

The first single -- "Wave Hello" -- is a bouncing, rhythmic, relaxing electronic track with sparse ethnic percussion and occasional techno kick beats; 86 bpm, with abundant detail and a large, complex stereo spread. Music veteran Lloyd Barde commented on the video, "Spotted Peccary again opens new space with intricate spatial rhythms and fractals of new sound for old ears, ever-shifting in wider phases & phrases (the nature shots perfectly express the organic, dimensional qualities of layered sound waves and drifting exhalations...Bravo. Best label anywhere!"

Taking a broader view of the world than the more reflective album, Cup, this new work draws inspiration from the interconnectedness of our world, and thus invites the listener to become one with it. iota’s twelve tracks feel like a projector in the theater of the mind, designed to draw a dormant imagination to the surface and see what image is manifested. In line with that vision, guests of the artist's recent Bandcamp listening party likened the album to a John Carpenter film soundtrack, although much more subtle.

Compositionally, AeTopus proves himself an off-beat hypnotist, as melodies and loops weave in and out of polyrhythmic percussion to entrancing effect. “Why Not Now” drapes an odd-time groove in crystalline shimmers as plaintive low tones lift the piece into wistfulness. “Sunny” rides a bright bassline through opalescent texture, as airy and light as “Tell_us,” is low. “Tell_us,” named for the Latin word for Earth, quivers with grandeur. Percussion echoes beneath a subterranean drone before a worldbeat-inflected arpeggio dances across their harmony. A polyrhythm emerges: electronic and traditional music styles entwine.

During the album’s development, AeTopus conceptualized his ideal listening environment: “I like to imagine myself in a four hundred square foot apartment, within an old brick building. My imagination must expand from a small place, a place of comfortable modesty, into a world filled with foliage, wildlife, and stars in the night sky.”

The message at the core of iota lives in this description: imagination can turn walls into windows, can morph the mundane into majesty, can change even the smallest space into the infinite. Whether we are wandering through a museum, or listening to nature while sitting quietly in a forest, or doing research in a coffee shop, or imagining a future ten thousand years hence, we are immersed in intricate associations both as witnesses and participants. iota addresses the nuanced, dimensional nature of communication, and the imaginative concept of being in touch with or attached to everything that has ever existed.

Enjoying the early feedback on the music, Hughes commented, "I'm finding that, in addition to receiving praise from the ambient community, the album is being recognized by listeners from the chillout, techno, and IDM corner of the electronic music world. The AeTopus sound has evolved over the years, having started as more of an ethno-ambient or New Age project. With each release, things have gotten increasingly polyrhythmic, and the sound palette has grown more contemporary - I feel that iota is pushing the boundaries of both the relaxation-minded world and the active electronica aesthetic, while not fully settling into either subgenre. The response so far has been amazing, and I'm humbled by all the positive feedback it's received."

iota will be live streamed throughout the day on Spotted Peccary’s 24/7/365 streaming channel SPMLive at https://linktr.ee/ambientelectronic.tv

For artist interviews, reviews, or promotional requests, please contact Beth Ann Hilton via [email protected]

Credits:
– Composed, performed, arranged, and produced by Bryan Tewell Hughes
– Mixed by Bill Simpkins at Alpenglow Sound Studios, Bellingham, WA, USA
– Mastered by Howard Givens at Spotted Peccary Studios NW, Portland, OR
– Graphic design by Daniel Pipitone at Spotted Peccary Studios NE
– Video by Joe Abreu at Spotted Peccary Studios West, San Diego, CA

Tracklist:
1 Museum 4:40
2 Why Not Now 5:24
3 Mohhu 5:11
4 Finespun 4:14
5 Level 6:29
6 Wave Hello 4:31
7 Tell_us 6:22
8 Subsystem 4:19
9 Probe 5:29
10 Accent 4:32
11 Sunny 6:31
12 Decima Milia 4:31

Links:
Music Smartlink: https://orcd.co/iota
Spotted Peccary Album Page: https://spottedpeccary.com/shop/iota/
Bandcamp: https://ambientelectronic.bandcamp.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spottedpeccary/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spottedpeccary

About AeTopus
AeTopus is the innovative music project of Bryan Tewell Hughes, a multi-media artist whose music is influenced as much by art, nature and the human experience as it is by a singular idea or moment in his life. The moniker AeTopus suggests time (Ae), while “Topus” loosely means place. A life-long musician, Hughes began classical piano training at age 6, moving through musical immersions in heavy metal and punk, eventually being drawn to join the sonic slipstream of ambient and electronic music. He has won a Zone Music Reporter Award (ZMR) for Best Electronic album, and earned three Best Electronic album nominations. https://www.aetopus.com/

About Spotted Peccary Music
Portland-based Spotted Peccary Music is North America’s finest independent record label with a focus on deep, vast and introspective soundscapes. For over three decades, the artists of Spotted Peccary have been on a mission to develop, produce, publish and release ultra-high-quality, deep-listening experiences that engage the listener and exceed expectations. Every release is carefully prepared in a variety of high-quality formats from MP3 to high-res studio masters. In 2023, they were named Best Independent Record Label by the HIMAwards. Explore more than 200 titles and 50 artists released over 39 years of excellence at www.SpottedPeccary.com

Beth Hilton
Spotted Peccary Music
+1 310-560-8390
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