Symbion Project
Seattle, Washington, United States | Established. Jan 01, 1997 | SELF
Music
Press
Much different, once again, is the new, guest-rich LP “Arcadian.” Crooker has assembled a cast of excellent guest vocalists, like Briana Marela (Amiina, múm collaborator), Jenni Potts, and Markus Junnikkala from Finnish band MY. On track “Bloodthirsty,” Junnikkala’s delicious singing, like a multi-tracked David Sylvian, swings above Crooker’s subtly funky beats and ornate, melancholic keyboard melodies. On “Venus,” Crooker’s former band mate in Splashdown, Melissa R Kaplan, delivers a virtuoso, soulful performance. Marela provides sweetly sung lines on “Stainless Endless Radiance,” and multi-talented Seattle musician Potts sings “The Charmed,” a brooding, beautiful tale of heartbreak, reminiscent of mid-90s Bel Canto if they’d looped ghostly guitar samples a la Portishead. An attendant, 3D video for “The Charmed,” with its glitch-y visuals of dancers breaking into disembodied shards as they move, shouldn’t be missed.
Not all sounds spring from Crooker’s vintage Moogs. He garnishes songs with Gus Sebring’s French horns (“Beekeeper’s Muse”), field recordings of bonfires (“You Remain”), or, on “Such Letting Go Is Love,” Geoffrey Klok’s classical guitar. On some tracks, head-nodding beats could easily be imagined bumping from jeeps on a Saturday night, and while there is joy in many songs, this isn’t a party record, but an obviously personal exercise by Crooker, each song a conceptual look at themes of escapism (“Arcadian”) or personal loss (“You Remain.”). It’s why Crooker sings more than he ever has, maybe, on any Symbion Project record, even processing his vocals as stand-ins for instrumentation, as on the French-horn-ended “Beekeeper’s Muse.” As much as he employs more formal vocalists as guests, it takes only one listen to realize “Arcadian,” taken as an album, belongs to Crooker’s voice. - Ravelin Magazine
Considering one of Kasson Crooker’s recent gigs was sculpting “spatial audio experiences for the Microsoft HoloLens,” it should come as no surprise that the ever-so-blurred line between virtual and visceral worlds is explored at length on his eighth Symbion Project LP. Due out September 9th through Speed of Dark Music, Arcadian brings a pop bent to Crooker’s skittish IDM beats thanks to such featured singers as Jenni Potts (see also: the Odesza single “White Lies”), Markus Junnikkala (from the Finish band MY), and occasional cocktail critic Briana Marela. The recurring Amiina/múm collaborator stars in today’s #selftitledpremiere, which Crooker describes as follows:
I first heard Briana Marela’s lovely vocals when she performed at Seattle’s Decibel Festival and knew instantly we should collaborate on a song. She has such a unique quality to her voice and layered vocal treatments, that instantly captures the listeners imagination. - Self-Titled Magazine
Electronic musician Kasson Crooker has blazed may trails during his illustrious career, which includes co-founding Boston synth-pop band Freezepop. But he’s perhaps the most comfortable working solo under his Symbion Project nom de plume. On September 9, Crooker scales new heights with the release of his eighth full-length album, Arcadian, and we’re extremely pleased to world premiere the entire LP for your listening pleasure. Joined by a coterie of talented vocalists including Melissa Kaplan, Briana Marela, Geoffrey Klok and Jenni Potts, the Seattle-based artist navigates a channel of downtempo, IDM and indie pop that’s fueled by bittersweet, sometimes forlorn lyrics. Get a first listen to the full album below and marvel at the album’s sonic majesty. - BigShot Magazine
Symbion Project from Seattle, whose new album Arcadian will be available September 9th. It’s the creation of Kasson Crooker, who put together a group of talented artists to compliment his music in the electronic-leaning melancholia he created on the release. Today, Symbion project is premiering the single “The Charmed”, featuring Jenni Potts, who was most recently heard on Odesza’s “White Lies”. Additional guests on the album include Briana Marela (Amiina, múm collaborator on Jagjaguwar), Finnish singer Markus Junnikkala (from the band MY), and Melissa R Kaplan (Splashdown). - Northern Transmissions
Symbion Project (Seattle producer Kasson Crooker, making his live debut tonight) has been creating music for 20 years, but somehow has eluded my radar. His 10-track Semiotic LP from last year reveals a composer who favors rich, grandiose melodies and easily danceable rhythms. It’s the sort of electronic music that’s seemingly weaned on a diet of those Synergy records from the ’70s and ’80s, but upgraded to 21st-century specs, with influences from ’90s rave and IDM, in which exuberant melodies commingle with the textural crunchiness. “Phenomena” and “Impulse” are exceptions, being menacing downtempo creepers with serrated edges in the vein of Mezzanine-era Massive Attack and Tipper’s distorted-bass-heavy approach. Crooker’s ambitious production flourishes are worth following, and his entrance to the live arena—reputedly bolstered by spectacular visuals—seems long overdue. (The first 50 people through the door receive a free download of Semiotic.) DAVE SEGAL - The Stranger (Seattle arts/culture newspaper)
Discography
2015: Semiotic
2012: Misery in Soliloquy [exposed]
2011: Contrapasso
2010: Misery in Soliloquy
2007: Wound Up by God or the Devil
2003: Immortal Game
1997: Red
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Bio
For the past 2 decades and spanning 8 full length albums and numerous EPs, remixes, and covers, Symbion Project is constantly innovating electronic music. Each album delves into a different genre and aesthetic drawing on downtempo, IDM/techno, synthpop/synthwave, ambient, and classical. Influenced by 80’s synthpop acts Depeche Mode and New Order, Massive Attack and Portishead in the 90’s, Royksopp and Air in the 00’s, Symbion Project strives to define it’s own aesthetic and songwriting style.
Seattle-based Symbion Project's concerts feature live electronics & synchronized video projections and incorporate synthpop songs from his side-project ELYXR. Numerous songs have been featured in videogames (Amplitude PS4, RockBand) and movies, and several albums have been released in quad surround sound.
Gishiki is the most recent album and is an instrumental exploration into tradiational Japanese-inspired pentatonic music featuring the stringed koto instrument. Fans of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Brian Eno, and Philip Glass would enjoy this dreamy ambient album.
Arcadian is the 8th full-length album from Symbion Project and while previous releases have seen the moniker’s sound range from chaotic IDM to cinematic downtempo to classical synthesizer music, Aracadian sees the project nod to electronic-based, beat-driven song structures that draw circles around the world’s more melancholy realities.
Along with founding several bands including synthpop legends Freezepop, ELYXR, and Rocococo in addition to Symbion Project, Kasson is an accomplished composer and audio technologist. His music has been featured in interactive music games like Amplitude, RockBand, and Sentris, he's created spatial audio experiences for the Microsoft HoloLens, and is currently creating a spatial audio VR videogame.
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