The Dublin electronic duo tell us about their new album Hydra, track-by-track.
Rob Roche and Tim Nolan are the Dublin duo of Long Island Sound, who release their second full-length record of electronic productions, that moves between dreamy explorations, dynamic euphoria and comes after 2022’s long-player Lost Connection.
Hydra, is informed by Greek mythological origins of Hydra, an immortal serpent-like water monster with nine heads.
The album is released on Seb Wildblood’s All My Thoughts label.
As One
As One sets the tone for the album to build on. It emphasises movement, using phasing drums and LFO on the riff to keep everything feeling alive, constantly shifting. Coupled with the unpredictable timing of the various plucks, the elements work together, continuously growing.
Anchor
Anchor uses a more defined melody, with a riff that came together by chopping up MIDI from different ideas and finding those lucky pieces that clicked together. The pads do most of the dynamic work in this one. We then experimented with different MIDI sequences to create something in the second break that feels a bit more intense and unexpected.
Full Effect
Full Effect is one of the older tracks on Hydra. We managed to fit in a lot of riffs and counter-melodies, which is something we really like about the track. Often these various melodies are born out of one singular idea – you can hear them all build up together towards the end of the track. The chopped up vocal provides another little earworm here.
Terra Nova
Terra Nova features a vocal with a chain of effects we created, focusing on vocal formants and delay. It’s one of the first tracks where we really embraced a full vocal, using it as the main hook. The riff at the 2 minute mark went through loads of effects, playing differently each time we recorded it. We played with LFO on the filter until we found the right sound, then tracked it to audio until we had a take that felt just right. When we made it, it felt different from everything else we were working on at the time, which was really refreshing.
Adrenaline
Adrenaline started by sequencing various synths using Arturia Keystep until we had the basis of the riff. Then we sent a vocal sample through a spectral resonator, coming in towards the second half of the track, giving it a slightly ghostly feeling. We wanted something that would split the album and give listeners a bit of a breather. It was nice to include something like this, as we wouldn’t usually have the chance to experiment with ambient stuff on a shorter release. We both drew a lot of inspiration from the ambient and cinematic music that inspires us, which felt like the perfect change of pace for the album.
Warsaw
After the breather of the previous track, the album jumps back up a notch here, picking up energy with driving riffs that carry the track forward. Warsaw started by running a MIDI riff we created through the Bass Station 2 and spending time tweaking a patch until we got something we liked. The BS2 is a great little synth! We then layered it with the MS1, another mono synth, which helped develop the sound further on top of the Bass Station, giving it a bit more sparkle.
Searching
Searching was made around the same time as Warsaw. We used a very similar BS2 sound to the one we created for Warsaw, layering it with the MS1 at different points. We had started thinking about our live set at this point and we were conscious of how we might recreate these tracks live, so we found ourselves coming back to the synths that we are really familiar with. The kicks were originally breakbeat-style, but once we tried 4/4 we realized the track could have a lot more energy.. We spent hours chopping up the Shay Lia vocal, ending up with new phases. The tone of her voice fits perfectly with the feeling we wanted to create.
Timelapse
Timelapse took a while to come together. We were stuck on it for a while because it felt as though we were missing an element. We stepped away from it for a few months, before coming back to it, adding the vocal stab that comes in during the main break. That break really tied everything together and gave the track the legs it needed to feel finished.
Curved Air
Curved Air is a track we experimented with a lot of different arrangements on, eventually landing on a long, gradual build. The main riff is a one-shot sample that we ran through an effect rack, created specifically for this track. We’ve ended up using that rack on a lot of other tracks since. The name Curved Air actually came from a pad sound we used from the Yamaha DX7.
Mira
Mira is a track we’ve had for a long time and it’s always been a favorite of ours. It always goes down really well at festivals and gigs. We built a lot of the track around the vocal, focusing on creating a chord progression around it. We spent some time getting the right sound for the SH-101 bass riff that enters half way through the track, also making sure the note timings were spot on. The arrangement builds and builds in intensity towards an extended outro. We felt the atmosphere was the perfect way to capture the overall feeling of the album as it fades out.
