Loscil is the electronic/

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. It may lack net composition, beat, or structured melody.The Ambient Century by Mark Prendergast, Bloomsbury, London, 2003. It u ...

project of Scott Morgan from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Morgan launched the project in Vancouver in 1998 while a member of the multimedia collective Multiplex, which curated audiovisual events at an underground cinema called The Blinding Light. The name Loscil is taken from the "looping oscillator" function (loscil) in Csound. Morgan was also the drummer for the Vancouver indie band

Destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

. As Loscil, he has also produced numerous special projects, remixes, and collaborations with other musicians, including Ryuichi Sakamoto, Murcof/ Vanessa Wagner,

Sarah Neufeld Sarah Neufeld (born August 27, 1979) is a Canadian violinist who is known for her work with indie rock band Arcade Fire, with whom she is a former core member and currently a touring member. She has contributed to each of the band's studio alb ...

Daniel Bejar Daniel Bejar (; born October 4, 1972) is a Canadian singer and musician from Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the frontman of Destroyer (band), Destroyer, and is a member of indie rock band the New Pornographers. Overview In 2006, he joined ...

bvdub Bvdub is an American electronic music producer originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. Since 2007 he has released more than 40 albums and EPs under this name and other pseudonyms including his birth name, Brock Van Wey. Residing in Shaoxing, ...

, Rachel Grimes, and Kelly Wyse.

Career

Loscil graduated from

Simon Fraser University's School for the Contemporary Arts Established in 2009, the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology (FCAT) at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada encompasses 5 Schools and Programs. The Office of the Dean is located in thBurnaby Campus Schools and Programs ...

, where he studied with computer-music pioneer Barry Truax.

2000s

A self-released album titled ''A New Demonstration of Thermodynamic Tendencies'' caught the attention of

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

label Kranky, which signed Morgan on to release his debut album ''Triple Point'' in 2001. The album features six tracks off his first independent release as well as four new tracks. Loscil followed up the release with ''

Submers ''Submers'' is an album by Canadian musician Scott Morgan under the alias of Loscil. It was released in 2002 by Kranky (record label), Kranky. Production and style Large portions of the music on ''Submbers'' was from classical music that had been ...

'', an aquatic-themed album. Each track on the album is named after a

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

. The last track on the album was produced in honour of the people who died on the Russian submarine K-141 Kursk. Loscil's 2004 album ''First Narrows'' (a reference to the official name of the Vancouver bridge, also known as Lions' Gate Bridge) marked the incorporation of improvised performances by a number of guest musicians: Nyla Raney on cello, Tim Loewen on guitar and Jason Zumpano on

Rhodes piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

. Consequently, the music pieces (or tone poems) on ''First Narrows'' are "more organic and looser in nature" than Morgan's previous work. Eight of Loscil's tone poems were featured on the film score of the 2004 documentary '' Scared Sacred'' by the award-winning documentary filmmaker Velcrow Ripper. In 2005, Morgan released ''Stases'', a collection of drones based upon the backgrounds of his work for Kranky. The album was made available as a free download-only release from One Records. The theme of Loscil's fourth major album, released in 2006, continued the conceptual ascent that each of his previous albums took, from the "subatomic level" and watery depths of ''Triple Point'' and ''

'', respectively, to the surface alluded to by ''First Narrows'' and the sky referenced in '' Plume''. '' Plume'' also continued Morgan's musical integration of other musicians' work into his ambient compositions, including those by Josh August Lindstrom on vibes and xylophone and Krista Michelle Marshall and Stephen Michael Wood on EBow guitar, as well as

Zumpano Zumpano was a Canadian power pop group in the 1990s. The band, whose music style resembled such contemporaries as Sloan (band), Sloan and The Super Friendz, consisted of vocalist/guitarist Carl Newman, keyboardist Michael Ledwidge, bassist Ste ...

again on piano.

2010s

In a 2014 interview with '' Exberliner'', Loscil described a facet of his 2014 album thus: "Vancouver is the ideal setting, and I say that in a sort of ironic way. The nature is so beautiful but it’s coupled with human intervention.

y 2014 album Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate Letter (alphabet), letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some auth ...

''Sea Island'' is really inspired by that contrast. That area being a nature reserve as well as an industrial area and an airport is both beautiful and kind of horrific. I relish that contrast. There’s a balance there that I find interesting from a musical perspective. It opens the door to interpretation." In December 2016, American webzine ''Somewherecold'' ranked Loscil's ''Monument Builders'' No. 4 on their ''Somewherecold Awards 2016'' list. In 2019, Loscil released ''Equivalents'', a reworking of piano samples inspired by

Alfred Stieglitz Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was kno ...

’ black-and-white photographs of clouds. ''Pitchfork'' described the album as "full of wispy high pitches that swirl around waves of pink noise and slowly moving tone clusters."

2020s

In March 2021, Loscil announced the May 28 release of a new 10-track album called ''Clara''. As basis for the tracks, Loscil used a short orchestral recording, which is from a single three-minute composition performed by a 22-piece string orchestra in Budapest. Upon its release, ''Clara'' was met with critical acclaim, attaining on reviews aggregator Metacritic a score of 85, indicating "universal acclaim".

Discography

Studio albums

*1999 ''A New Demonstration of Thermodynamic Tendencies'' *2001 ''Triple Point'' ( Kranky) *2002 ''

'' (Kranky) *2004 ''First Narrows'' (Kranky) *2006 '' Plume'' (Kranky) *2010 ''Endless Falls'' (Kranky) *2011 ''Coast / Range / Arc'' (Glacial Movements) *2012 ''Sketches From New Brighton'' (Kranky) *2013 ''Erebus'' (with

Bvdub Bvdub is an American electronic music producer originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. Since 2007 he has released more than 40 albums and EPs under this name and other pseudonyms including his birth name, Brock Van Wey. Residing in Shaoxing, ...

) (Glacial Movements) *2014 ''Sea Island'' (Kranky) *2016 ''Monument Builders'' (Kranky) *2019 ''Equivalents'' (Kranky) *2019 ''Lifelike'' (Frond) *2020 ''Faults, Coasts, Lines'' (bandcamp) *2020 ''Adrift'' *2021 ''Clara'' (Kranky) *2022 ''The Sails'' (Frond)

EPs and other releases

*2001 ''Involve Ep02 (

Involve Records Involve may refer to: * Involve (think tank), The Involve Foundation, a UK-based organisation that focuses on public participation * INVOLVE (UK National Advisory group) Involve may refer to: * Involve (think tank), The Involve Foundation, a U ...

)'' *2005 ''Stases (Drones 2001–2005)'' (One) *2009 ''Strathcona Variations EP'' ( Ghostly International) *2010 ''Versions EP'' (bandcamp) *2010 ''Untitled EP'' (bandcamp) *2012 ''City Hospital'' (Wist Rec) *2013 ''Intervalo'' (featuring Kelly Wyse) (Frond) *2014 ''Fury and Hecla'' (with Fieldhead) (Gizeh Records) *2015
ADRIFT
' (app for iOS and Android) (Frond) *2016 ''Suns'' (Frond - cassette only) *2016 ''The Air at Night (Live at Subtrata)'' (with Rachel Grimes) (Mossgrove Music) *2016 ''Lodge'' (1631 Recordings)

Tracks featured on

*2003 ''

Saturday Morning Empires Saturday is the day of the week between Friday and Sunday. No later than the 2nd century, the Romans named Saturday ("Saturn's Day") for the planet Saturn, which controlled the first hour of that day, according to Vettius Valens. The day's na ...

'' ( Intr Version) *2003 '' The Corporation'' documentary film soundtrack *2004 ''ScaredSacred'' documentary film soundtrack *2006 '' Idol Tryouts: Ghostly International Vol. 2'' ( Ghostly International) *2008 ''The Sleep Machine'' contributed to Chequerboards online Relay project *2009 '' Osmos'' computer game *2013 '' Hundreds'' iOS game *2014 '' Divergent (film)'' *2014 ''

From the Sky (film) ''From the Sky'' is a 2014 short film written and directed by Ian Ebright, who also produced it with Jess Grant. The independently produced drama features an Arab father and son traveling through a region that often experiences drone strikes. The f ...

'' *2017 '' Suburra: Blood on Rome (Netflix) - Sturgeon Bank + Bleeding Ink (from 2014 Sea Island) / Anthropocene (from 2016 Monument Builders) *2019 '' Lifelike'' iOS game

References

External links

Official website
*

at Kranky
"Environmental Music: Loscil's Impressionistic Portraits
CBC Radio 3 Live Concert Session {{Authority control Living people Ambient musicians Canadian electronic musicians Musicians from Vancouver Year of birth missing (living people)