Agnys by Aria Rostami

Spring Theory is proud to announce its latest release, an LP from San Francisco-based experimental producer and label alumni Aria Rostami. Titled Agnys, it's an intensely personal and introspective reflection on friendship, loss and rebirth in our hyper-connected society. A rumination on a collaborative project started with Rostami's now deceased production partner, roommate, and friend Shawn Dickerson, it utilizes a melodic and ambient techno sound palette to take the listener on a journey that touches on the uncanny permanence that information technology lends to the tragic fragility of the human experience.

Mirroring the time distortion of the information age, and how new and old exist simultaneously on the internet, Agnys is a record that unfolds in reverse. The deep and minimalistic b-sides, "White-White," "Soroban" and "Beghilos" guide the aesthetic experience. Unified by an emotion of retrospective nostalgia, they were all created by editing and contorting aspects from a single recording made from Dickerson's piano — a dusty and detuned standup made sometime before The Great Depression that now sits in Rostami's bedroom. "This plays with both the idea of sameness (something old, something that's been done, something bland) and newness (something re-contextualized)," explains Rostami.

By contrast, the warm embrace of "Clepsydra," the symphonic dancefloor grandeur of "Seven-Segments," and sharp punchiness of "A Square Tablet Strewn With Dust" reveal Rostami's own take on the sonic structure of the B-sides. "The A-sides are a reinterpretation of the world made by the B-sides much like the B-sides are a reinterpretation of Shawn's interests and ideas. In this way, the listener works backwards to the source."

"The internet became a key player in our relationship. The web dissolved old walls of discovery and opened itself up through search terms and piracy. We were discovering electronic music we couldn't even conceive of." says Rostami. "For Agnys, I took ideas that are new, ideas that are old, and ideas that are just old enough to be recycled again and focused on certain points that I thought Shawn and I could have explored more if we had had the time."

Simply put, Agnys is a beautiful record from one of San Francisco's most talented producers. We're excited to release it, and we're very excited for you to hear it for yourself.

Aria Rostami currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. Rostami started releasing music in 2011 and has releases on labels such as Spring Theory, Glacial Movements, Dark Entries, Crash Symbols, Zoom Lens, Audiobulb and Jacktone Records. Aria Rostami occasionally performs and releases work with Daniel Blomquist.

ariarostami.com