Hydropsyche and Unguarded announce Exhumed & Forgiven (UGD-018), the first album from Hydropsyche on the label.

This LP boasts 8 glacial and emotive melody-forward synthesizer compositions utilizing additive and polyrhythmic sequencing to create a contained but hypnotic sense of movement throughout. Exhumed & Forgiven marks a difficult but successful struggle faced by Hydropsyche to reclaim a sense of self after escaping a prolonged period of psychological abuse. And while the darkness of such a challenge has left its impression on the sound, it is above all else defined by a palpable sense of overcoming and newfound levity that is as somber as it is ecstatic. Here the lost self and a lost connection to music and practice have been exhumed - dug up and resuscitated - and forgiven, or embraced for all their flaws and true nature. The album stands both as a metaphor as well as a product of this process. Musically, the album is at once massive and effortless, carrying listeners through several peaks and troughs in each track.

God Rays opens the album accompanied by string arrangements performed by Alice Colley (Violin), Haley Altgenug (Viola) and Franziska Aigner (Cello) and foreshadows a cinematic richness carried throughout. Immediately offsetting the touched sound of strings is neurally generated audio by Rim Mustafin on the following track, Redemption. The remainder of the album, however, is a solo effort bringing listeners ever closer into a uniquely intimate yet expansive soundscape.

The fourth track, (5 7 7), begins with a room recording of Hydropsyche rehearsing in his studio. The recording is quiet and rough, likely recorded with a cellphone and is notably raw as compared to the rest of the album. But gradually, the song moves to the front of the speakers until we’re completely submerged in it - a tragically beautiful yet simple melody, the sonic equivalent to a seascape by Turner or landscape by Caspar David Friedrich. Here, as in the rest of the album, Hydropsyche invites us into his musical practice, into his process, and then further into the unconscious potentials of music both as a maker and listener. Hydropsyche has previously released the Scree EP on Paris’ High Heal in 2018, as well as self-releasing the Vestiges EP in 2019. He has contributed to numerous compilations, including Unguarded’s Entangled in 2021. He has performed at Lunchmeat Festival, Berliner Festspiele, Fotonica Festival in Rome, and opened the Prague Quadrennial in 2023.