Solvent

Solvent is Toronto post-techno producer Jason Amm, who releases melodic electronica under that name through his own Suction label, co-founded with friend and label partner Gregory DeRocher (aka Lowfish) in 1997. Traceable to a number of nonexclusive influences spanning the last 20-odd years of elecronic music (early electro-pop innovators such as the Normal, Liaisons Dangereuse, Visage, and Soft Cell), Amm's music is a fidgety, lo-fi fusion of the range of those influences combined with strains of current post-techno comparable to Aphex Twin and Autechre. Solvent contributed three tracks to Suction's first 12" before the label issued his self-titled debut CD in 1998. A mixture of warm, melodic, reassuring melodies and by turns mellow and harsh rhythms, the CD drew instant comparisons to Aphex Twin, although also apparent were the influences of Yaz and early Human League. A split 7" with like-minded (if not like-sounding) Italian duo D'Arcangelo followed in 1999, as did another split with label partner Lowfish on German/British label City Centre Offices. Amm also contributed Solvent material to compilations on Spelunk, Lo Recordings, Vinyl Communications, and Serotonin, and released his second full-length, Solvently One Listens, at the end of 1999. The next decade brought numerous single releases, DJ mixes, collaborative efforts, and compilation appearances, as well as full-length albums Solvent City (2001), Apples + Synthesizers (2004), and Subject to Shift (2010). Beginning in 2011, Amm began work on a documentary film about the history of modular synthesizers and the culture that grew around them. The resultant film, I Dream of Wires, saw its realization in 2013, and was soundtracked completely with music scored by Solvent on modular synthesizers. ~ Sean Cooper & Fred Thomas, Rovi