Sensing

CD/Digital Preorder: https://lizardlabel.bandcamp.com/album/wav-fuzz-sensing

Lizard Label proudly presents their inaugural release: a slab of aqueous technoid excursions and hi-def electro workouts from Chicago-based producer Wav Fuzz. The head lizards first heard these tracks performed as a live set at an intimate gathering in the woods and immediately knew it needed a broader audience. With Sensing, the artist hones in on a lush strain of dance music thematically oriented around human sensory awareness, matching detailed compositions with each of the senses. The album follows previous releases on labels including Les Yeux Orange, Bed of Roses, Occult Research, and the artist's own imprint EYMS.

“Vision” kicks off Sensing with a wave-jumping journey through layered synth pads and chiming mallet leads, all girded by drum programming that bumps over sturdy kicks and clattering hi-hats. Wav Fuzz lets the central elements of each track loop listeners into a trance state while frosting the outer layers of the stereo spread with warm pads and rushes of pure texture. “Audition” — as in hearing, not trying out for the part — leans into throbbing bass bursts planted beneath a web of interlaced saw waves, while “Olfaction” heads off on a major key trip that splits the difference between a Mediterranean yacht party and a space cruiser docking against the backdrop of Saturn.

Throughout Sensing, Wav Fuzz demonstrates a fine-tuned sense of melody without lapsing out of the state of drift. Fine-grain synth patches share space with complex beat patterns and evolve together through subtle shifts in narrative — all while remaining in that club-ready sweet spot, with basslines that could only sound massive on a proper sound system. “Gustation” skirts the closest here to what could be called IDM, with thirty-second note patterns jittering behind alternating atonal and consonant synth phrases, creating a sinuous ebb and flow, equal parts tension and ecstasy.

“Somatosensation” places Wav Fuzz’s hands on the keyboard, dripping out a stream of balearic arpeggios and luxuriant chords — that is, before that bassline kicks in, underpinning the proceedings with a feeling of constant forward motion. Knowing exactly when to deploy each new element without overcrowding the mix, the artist coasts with us through a network of kicks and bleeps, filter sweeps and looped one-bar melodies. Wav Fuzz adds another sense to the traditional five: “Intuition.” The album closer starts in a state of wide open bliss, with synthetic bongos and shakers backing a steady kick snare groove, before complicating with the introduction of growling bass and intensifying synth ornamentation.

Wav Fuzz prefers to maintain a sense of anonymity around the project, which suits the liquid nature of the music. The compositions that Sensing offers reach us as finely sculpted sessions that feel like they could extend far beyond their allotted time, swirling through their varied permutations while maintaining their central groove, their core idea. As a durational medium, we listen to music and we know that it will end at some point. We find ourselves within the space of one track, already preparing ourselves for the next. We watch for the signs on the side of the road that might lead us to some new vista. Sensing balances that expectation with pockets of perfect stasis — moments we would be fine looping along with unto infinity.

Words: Max Allison

Produced by Andrew Bisenius
Mastering by Jason Letkiewicz
Artwork by Alyssa Beers