By Colin malone | november 16, 2024
The night of November 12, 2024 saw Brooklyn Steel packed from wall to wall with concert goers in good spirits ready for an evening of chill ambient music from Tycho, a now well known name in the instrumental “Chillwave” electronic genre from record label Ghostly International. Before the main event, label mate Brijean took that stage to set the tone. While not instrumental, their mood fit in perfectly with the night. The instrumentals of Doug Stuart mixed with the percussion and vocals of Brijean Murphy will transport you back to the smooth sultry 70’s that would pair well with a quiet jazz bar or relaxing poolside.
The main event of the night, Tycho, began in 2006 as a solo project of Scott Hansen. In his first few years he worked alone performing and recording all instrumentals. It wasn’t until the tour of his second album, Dive, that Hansen employed further musicians that he decided to work with them on all future albums. This filled out the lineup to Hansen on synths, guitar, and bass, Zac Brown on bass and guitar, Rory O’Connor on drums, and Billy Kim as a touring member on bass, keyboards, and synths.
Once Tycho launched into their set you could feel the joy in the crowd with dancing and swaying in every direction you looked. Despite having no vocals and a generally chill feeling there was no lack of energy. The crowd roared when recognizable favorites such as “A Walk” and “Horizon” were both heard and seen with accompanying lovely visuals. Before closing out the night with an encore of Chillwave classics “Awake” and “Division”, Hansen spoke to the audience in one of his few moments thanking them while also pointing out the night was his first time returning to the venue he loved since performing in 2017 just less than one month after their initial opening. A night with Tycho is not one to be missed if you are looking to be surrounded by a great spirited audience all looking to take in the dreamy instrumental sounds.
Colin Malone is a freelance photojournalist for Majestic Music Magazine. See more of his work here
