Liftflow by Otisphere

What we found in that Chrysler annex, between the 32nd and 33rd floors, wasn't just a place to play. It was a space that breathed, hummed, and resonated in ways that suspended time itself. *Liftflow* is our attempt to map that feeling, to chart a serene ascent through the invisible plays of power that shape every elevator ride. It's a journey into a vertical limbo where hierarchy floats and dissolves, a sonic blueprint of contested space.

From the opening quiet of 'Between Stops,' you’re drawn into this suspended state, a gentle induction where familiar elevator sounds transform into transcendent ambient textures. We used contact microphones on the very walls of that 4x6 foot car to capture the building’s own resonant frequencies, turning them into foundational drones. Then there's the precision of 'Floor Thirty-Three,' where the Rhodes piano cascades through pentatonic scales, tracing the architectural lines of a building that never quite resolves. We call these 'floor progressions' – ascending and descending harmonic movements that cycle endlessly, like an infinite commute.

As you drift through pieces like 'Vertical Drift,' the feeling is of weightless motion, surrendering to invisible forces. The tenor saxophone breathes the recycled air of closed systems, sustained Rhodes chords hang in the air, and even silence becomes a compositional element, mirroring the emptiness of unused shafts in 'Off-Peak Hours.' It’s about finding a strange serenity in understanding those silent workings.

Then comes 'Shared Agency,' the album’s emotional peak. That's the moment it all clicks. Plush saxophone lines interweave with shimmering Rhodes chords, like passengers discovering a common purpose. It’s the breakthrough from individual isolation to group consciousness, a cathartic release. We wanted to capture that instant when everyone, literal and metaphorical, senses shared control over their stalled ascent.

The deeper you go, like in 'Motors Running,' you’re immersed in the building’s vital signs, the electrical hum of machinery that hasn't stopped since 1987. We processed and tuned those actual motor recordings to match the harmonies, making the building itself an instrument. And with 'Forty-Seven Minutes,' we stretched the boundaries of the elevator suite, exploring time's suspension, the meditation possible within enforced waiting.

*Liftflow* isn't just ambient jazz fusion; it's sonic architecture. We weren't just making music; we were trying to deconstruct something fundamental about transit, about the systems holding us in place. It's about finding peace in the quiet contest of floors that never arrive, in the persistent tick of brushed drums, in the gravitational pull of a fretless bass. By the time 'Ground Level' offers its gentle resolution, you might realize 'ground' isn't really an end, just another starting point for another vertical journey. We hope it sparks a different kind of conversation, about the spaces—both physical and emotional—that we all inhabit together.

Floating between notes that breathe like late-night air, Otisphere crafts instrumental stories where saxophone meets synthesizer in unhurried conversation.