Midnight Letters by Andrew Tasselmyer & Blurstem

It’s 2023, and if there’s anything that feels like an impossibility, it’s the avoidance of getting caught up in the rat race of technology and utilization of the latest digital tools. This is all the more true for music creators. Getting overwhelmed and bombarded by the endless onslaught of new instruments, pedals, synthesizers, plugins, and software is all too easy. And yet, staying true to a calling, and embracing the tools that are creatively inspiring, could be the antidote to the other end of the spectrum of entirely abandoning ship.

In an attempt to not only find a fulfilling balance of both old and new, but to dive in fully to each creatively inspiring side of technology - and lack thereof - Minneapolis’ Chris Bartels (Elskavon, Olma), writing as Blurstem, and Philadelphia’s Andrew Tasselmyer (Hotel Neon, Gray Acres) return for a second album together, Midnight Letters. With a heavier emphasis of original concepts on guitar, and in processing and experimenting with an analog tape machine that’s been running audio through it decades before he was even born, Bartels unintentionally gave the album its more nostalgic and natural roots. Tasselmyer then seasoned the concepts and sounds with his uniquely minimal-yet-extensive setup with iPad audio processing apps, samplers, and Ableton software, fleshing out the initial ideas into songs in their collaborative lane of experimental-heavy, compositional ambient.

Sent back to Bartels, they were then mixed, again, like on their debut album Duets, on the laptop out on the back patio table, a fitting method for this sonic journey between the old and new. And that’s really what Midnight Letters is: a journey.

With no initial intentions of pursuing the contrast of past and present technology, Bartels and Tasselmyer simply have found a space to creatively inspire each other, and to embrace the freedom in utilizing the tools and instruments that feel right in the moment, bring a unique touch to the sound, and ultimately give life to something memorable.

Past Inside the Present is the home of a passionate, collaborative artistic community in pursuit of the world’s most inventive and engaging quiet music.

Distribution through Juno Records (UK), Norman Records (UK), Soundohm (EU), PITP.US (US), Tobira Records (JP), and others.

pastinsidethepresent.com
pitp.us
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juno.co.uk
soundohm.com