Pavilions by Johnny Woods

“Pavilions helps us imagine a better world by providing music rich with organic technologies, synthstrumental pulses and atmospheres that’s perfect to paint with” – Alex Grey (Visionary Artist)

“I’m loving it!” – Michael Stein (Survive, Stranger Things Composer)

“A beautifully engaging album, seemingly always in motion, Woods offers us a collection of tunes that conjure up an elegant sense of the past, situated in our present, to be listened to in the future.” – Scanner (Composer, writer & media critic)

“A delightful constellation of effervescent Buchla textures and soundscapes.” – Todd Barton (Composer and Buchla synthesist)

“In Pavilions, Johnny Woods thoughtfully creates and guides the listener through a retro futuristic utopia. Propulsive and optimistic, Johnny expertly showcases everything the paradise has to offer. You’ll want to hop onto the monorail and revisit often.” – Source Of Uncertainty Podcast (Buchla oriented podcast)

“This record fills me with nostalgia for a past that never really existed – a promenade at a worlds fair – on which was displayed all manner of splendid wonders both technological and spiritual, full of reverence and also a sense of dominion. It’s what only the best iterative electronic music can give you, an engineering marvel – technically detailed – yet magically more than the sum of its parts. An aural experience from the first note to the last chord that sets the mind dreaming.” – Chrome Canyon (Musician and film composer)

Behind The Sky is proud to present Pavilions by Johnny Woods, an album of delicate and evolving improvised synthesizer meditations blooming from simple seeds into shimmering fractal compositions. Minimal and yet deceptively complex, these 7 Buchla 200e compositions invite repeated listening to explore their architectural modernism. Continuing the label’s mission to showcase analog and modular synthesists with respect for the past yet striving towards the future, Pavilions is a perfect beginning to the next chapter of artist releases.

Johnny Woods produces improvised synthesizer music from an off-grid Earthship high in the mountains of New Mexico. His 100% solar-powered studio features a variety of esoteric modular synthesizers, like those from Buchla and Wiard, which he has spent the last couple of decades attempting to master.

Johnny has been obsessed with analog synthesizers since his first encounter with one in 1994. Over the next 25 years, this obsession only grew. Entering the workforce just as the music industry was crumbling in 2001, Johnny instead focused his career on film and video. Often taking on projects in line with his musical passions, he has created videos and live experiences for Big Boi, Neon Indian, Classixx, Bear In Heaven, Chrome Canyon, and many more.

In 2010, Johnny became involved with LZX Industries, a boutique manufacturer specializing in analog video synthesizers. He is a well-known expert in the field of modular video synthesis, and has performed for crowds around the world, from Coachella and the Sydney Opera House to MoMA, LACMA, and the Hirshhorn Museum.

In 2016, Johnny moved to the mountains, reigniting his passion for audio modular synthesizers. His focus has largely been on the potential of these machines for new methods of improvisational composition. Seeking a true collaboration between man and machine, Johnny constructs dynamically organic systems within which the synthesizer is free to choose its own notes and rhythms. Like sand mandalas, these compositions are the result of a single session sitting at the synthesizer. After hours of programming and sculpting sounds, the piece is recorded. And once the machine is turned off, it can never be recreated again.

Inspired by an eco-futurist worldview, Johnny views the synthesizer as an ideal vehicle for transferring the rhythms and structures of nature into a pure recording of sound. His solar-powered melodies feel perfectly at home nestled amongst the pine trees in the mountains. There is always a hope and optimism in the music, driven by a constant belief that a new tomorrow can be better than today.

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