Chicago-based electronic musician Steve Hauschildt (Emeralds) is getting set to release his Nonlin LP via Ghostly International on October 25th. The album follows up on his 2018 debut effort for the label, Dissolvi. While that album included vocal contributions from GABI and Julianna Barwick, Nonlin is described by the label as being “freer, leaner, and looser” in conception and structure than its predecessor. Recorded at studios in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Tbilisi, and Brussels, Hauschildt’s upcoming work explores feelings of alienation and culture shock.
“Subtractive Skies” is our first listen in on Nonlin, and it’s a heady affair. Pulsating arpeggiations take center stage here as lower and higher register patterns play off each other in glittering collisions. Meanwhile, padded air fills the space with silvery ambiance as Hauschildt’s enveloping patterns soar across time and space. Eventually, rhythmic elements emerge in bursts of psychic static while everything becomes suffused in an eery, cosmic light.
