Heuristic Environments by Earthroom

As Earthroom, Philadelphia-based musicians Tyler Pursel and Morgan Evans-Weiler craft soily compositions that feel at once timeless and cutting edge. Pulling from styles ranging from ambient to jazz to neoclassical, the band’s output calls to mind acts like The Books, Fuubutsushi, and Sung Tongs era Animal Collective. The duo’s partnership is typically delicate and warm — the aural equivalent of flower petals cascading in the wind.

Pursel got his start gigging in the Philadelphia DIY scene, playing a myriad instruments in various hardcore and punk bands. But he slowly distanced himself from those rough-hewn roots, becoming infatuated with the fluorescent electronic sounds of Autechre, Boards Of Canada, and Jon Hassel.

Multi-disciplinary Evans-Weiler comes from a more traditional creative background, and cut his teeth playing in the ensemble Ordinary Effects. Additionally, he has worked with an impressive cast of composers, including Alvin Lucier and Christoph Schiller. Evans-Weiler is also an accomplished visual artist, and his stormy, modern work has been displayed at esteemed galleries across the United States.

Earthroom debuted in 2022, with the album 'Color Theory Volume I'. Pursel and Evans-Weiler were initially inspired to launch the project after becoming obsessed with 'serenitatem', a stellar 2019 FRKWYS release from Visible Cloaks, Yoshio Ojima, and Satsuki Shibano. Earthroom followed up their full-length debut a few months later with the curt EP Arranged Resonance, which collected three piano-based textures. Both releases heavily employed tape loops, acoustic instruments, and analog synthesis, exploring generative composition. Indebted to the minimalist techniques of Brian Eno and Steve Reich, Earthroom offset familiar austerity with New Age serenity.

Earthroom quickly settled into an impressive, cinematic sound. But Pursel and Evans-Weiler felt they had yet to unlock their full potential. The duo’s new record, Heuristic Environments, presents a massive step forward for Earthroom. “We wanted to create something that leaned more into futurism and/or hyperrealism in terms of composition, juxtaposition and overall sonic aesthetic,” Pursel muses. This time around, Earthroom toy with intricate technology, like granular synthesis, physical modeling, and FM/wavetable synthesis. Where the duo once let live playing carry the music, here, piano, violin, and guitar work is like data manipulated into beautiful new forms.

“Around this time, we were very into Kankyo Ongaku — musically and conceptually — and I recall reading some Eno thing about the concept of music as a ‘reliable portable environment,’ which I really loved,” Pursel reflects. “This informed a lot of the textural found sound stuff that happens on the record. If you are listening to music in headphones while traveling, the sounds of the outer world enter and intertwine with what you’re listening to.”

The title Heuristic Environments comes from the concept of using sound to evoke a compact world. Each piece feels like it exists in its own unique terrarium. Often, things are verdant and vine-y. “Easel” wanders in with deep chimes and broken voices, which build to a smeared, folky climax. Opener “A Field Of Chromatic Expanse” is hopeful and twinkling, thanks to melancholy violin swells that rest atop pristine piano chords and gurgly field recordings. While it’s named for a shade of greenish-yellow, the welcoming “Chartreuse” is more rosy than it is provocative.

Elsewhere, the record is comparably intoxicating and emotionally complex. “Sculpted Breaths” is particularly Zammuto-esque, thanks to a digitized vocal sample that rests beneath twangy string plucks. “Tension Collision” lives up to its slightly ominous title, organic tones woven into a frigid blur that recalls early-2000s IDM. “Water Lilies” marries nostalgic strums and murky drones in a mesmerizingly conflicting way.

From start to finish, Heuristic Environments deconstructs Earthroom’s formula, letting dexterity bubble from the cracks. Born from a place of challenging skepticism, the absorbing end result traverses baffling peaks and meditative valleys.

[Ted Davis]