‘Neuropark’ is the first in a series of monthly EPs from Moncton-based electro project, Paranerd.
Matt Carter
Paul Goguen has been creating music since the early nineties. Originally inspired by the diverse wave of artists nudged closer to the spotlight during the height of the grunge era, Goguen eventually turned his attention to software synths and MIDI mapping, and has been writing and releasing electronic music for more than 20 years now.
“In my teens, I was really into the indie rock scene and bands like Eric’s Trip, Sebadoh, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr.,” said Goguen. “Then I got a copy of the software synth Rebirth, heard Squarepusher for the first time and dedicated myself to creating electronic music.”
Goguen has been releasing music under the name Paranerd for the past five years, with releases spread out over a variety of labels and formats. His most recent release, Neuropark, blends down-tempo acid house with complex tones and rhythmic structures. Goguen’s appreciation for simplicity and space within each track’s melodic development is something only a life-long student of electronic music could properly understand and deliver.
Neuropark is also the first in a series of digital releases planned for the coming months.
“This EP is the first of a batch of EPs I will be putting out on a somewhat monthly basis on my Bandcamp page,” said Goguen. “I’ve been producing tracks almost daily during the recent winter and spring months in my home studio without any preconceived direction. So I’ve amassed a large number of tracks to organize together based on similar styles and themes.”
Goguen enjoys releasing four or five track EPs as a way to explore a few ideas without carrying the listener too far one way or the other. And as a way to group together months of compositions, EPs are an ideal direction to take.
“I felt regular releases of bite sized EPs would be more interesting instead of trying to fit tracks into album form,” he said. “I like the concept of creating many small worlds of music instead of trying to sum things up in an overarching theme.”
One big thing that may set this collection of tunes apart from many other electronic music releases is the fact that all the tracks on Neuropark were not created using layer upon layer of software loops. All of these tracks were captured live in the studio, performed using hardware synths.
“I’ve consciously produced all these tracks as live takes on hardware with no DAW (digital audio workstation) involved in the process other than recording everything as a stereo sum,” he said. “This makes the creation and recording of the music much more immediate with little ability on tweaking anything once it’s recorded. I found this really exciting. It has forced me to create a lot of new music quickly instead of spending time on ‘perfecting’ mixes, sequences or patches and has put the process of creating music at the forefront instead of concentrating on the end result.”
Upcoming Performances:
Future Forest | July 27-30, 2018
Paranerd | FACEBOOK | BANDCAMP
