BYAS – Queen City Sounds and Art

There is an aspect

BYAS3_crop — BYAS, photo courtesy the artist

of library music to BYAS’ single “Eagle” in that it’s a layered, sonically complex techno track but its natural and dynamic progression is expansive and suggestive of being paired with a visual component. Its tones are bright and warm and the arc of its melody and synth progression glides upward. There is also a tranquil gracious tone to the piece like the flight of its namesake. The twin synth lines soar over the shuffling beat and it would in fact be a great song for a documentary on the bird but also the presentation of information meant to keep you engaged by stimulating your ears and mind. There are hints of the influence of Kraftwerk and its clean tonal lines as well as the playfulness and focus of Giorgio Moroder but it’s that BYAS employs multiple streams of sound and texture as well as the sample of birds that enriches its aural spectrum and sets it apart from a lot of other techno out there that keeps things to essentials. One might think of this as a kind of maximalist techno song rather than the trend toward the minimal. Listen to “Eagle” on Spotify and follow BYAS at the links provided.