At 47 years old, Scott Hansen, who produces and performs under the name Tycho, is very conscious of his health. Not just for the sake of his own survival, but for his wife and young children; he is concerned with how his health affects the people around him, both at the moment and in the future.
"Seeing these new lives come into the world and realizing they're just starting this journey and how much they're going to be affected by the experiences they have with you makes you think about your friends and your family, and everybody you've ever interacted with," Hansen says, adding that humanity is connected. "It's not really about each of us. It's about what impact you can make while you're here that's going to have downstream effects on that continuum of life."
The healthier he is, the more positive his impact will be, and, along the continuum, his positive impact can theoretically ripple out forever. This idea influenced the title of Tycho's new album, Infinite Health, and expands throughout its songwriting and production.
The musical continuum of his life has brought Hansen back to electronic music, which he first fell in love with in the '90s. Where Tycho's GRAMMY-nominated 2019 LP Weather featured a majority of vocal-driven songs led by the ghostly euphony of Saint Sinner, Infinite Health is grounded in electronic music production just like when he started his career.
"I play synths and guitar, but I'm not virtuosic at either of those things. The thing I've spent the 10,000 hours at is working in Reaper on a computer. That inspires me the most," Hansen says.
Infinite Health still has a natural feel Hansen plans to replicate with a live band on his upcoming tour, but the club aesthetic is the album's guiding light. A four-on-the-floor kick drives "Devices" forward beneath spirited trance synths; "Phantom" has a similarly dancey feel that's buoyed by swirling harp effects.
More instrumental stylings —such as the lo-fi, atmospheric "Green" — allude further back on the continuum. Before Hansen started producing music, he spent a lot of time by the American River in Sacramento, California; those memories were some of his most present when creating Infinite Health. And while Hansen was revisiting his past, he believes that staying present is healing.
"I spent most of my career thinking about tomorrow or a week from now, or a year from now, or even 10 years from now. Once you have kids, you realize you really can't live with it like that. Every moment you wanna hold onto and internalize and be something you can revisit and connect to," Hansen says. "That's what the album was about. Being present and not being concerned with what's coming down the road. I'm hoping that the album can do that for other people and create this meditative space, where you can be a little bit more grounded in the now."
GRAMMY.com spoke to Hansen about balancing the idea of staying present and considering his future impacts, exploring an older production style, and the danger he finds in complacency.
Two decades into Tycho, what was it like to make music with mostly electronic production like you did when you started your career?
I think it's impossible to put yourself back in that place. If I ever hear people talk about their favorite [Tycho] album, it's almost always Dive. Wrestling with what that means and whether you're supposed to do that again; I really don't like to get caught in that way of thinking. I don't think it's healthy going into the process to be like, I'm trying to make stuff like I did when I was a completely different person 20 years ago.
It's even hard to relate to the person I was at that time. You would hope that you have changed significantly over those years to the point where you can't even get yourself in that headspace of that process.
Anytime I try to too closely revisit something, it dawns on me that it's nearly impossible. Maybe the tools can be the same. But the way you use them and the outcome is never going to be remotely similar. If it is, I don't know what the point is, because if you already made that album, why are you trying to do it again?
"Devices" alludes to when you first fell in love with electronic music. How do you balance being inspired by your past, but also knowing you can’t too closely revisit something?
That song in particular was pretty in the moment. There was always this nostalgic element from that time that allowed me to accept ["Devices"] for what it was. Not try to modernize it or shift it in some other direction where I felt like it was gonna be cooler or more relevant.
This song is what it is. It makes me feel nostalgic about this time, and it's like channeling that experience. I'm just gonna respect it.
To relate that idea to the title, is having the ability to step back and accept the music for what it is healing for you?
Every album I felt like I was trying to prove something or climb up to another level, sonically. This was the first album where I felt super comfortable with what everything ended up being. We cut a lot of tracks for various reasons to keep this thing tight. It wasn't because I didn't believe in the song or I didn't think it was the right statement. What ended up on the album — every single song — I love what it is.
I've never been more comfortable and accepting of what [an] album is. There's no question marks involved for me. This is what the album's supposed to be. In that respect, it was very healing.
Now that you’ve reached that point where you can feel completely content with what an album is, will you be able to channel that into everything you make?
There's a danger in that. The complacency of that can lead to not pushing yourself or going outside of your comfort zone. You gotta pick and choose those moments.
I think the album was just so inspired for me. But on the next one, I definitely want to try to push myself. Where can we take this that is an evolution of what I had done previously? Or how can I push myself into a space where I'm not necessarily 100 percent comfortable so the results might be a little bit more interesting? Or just feel like another part of the spectrum instead of retreading some of the existing space?
You also create a lot of the visuals for the Tycho project. How did being so comfortable with this album influence the visuals as well?
Every time I've made a song that pushed the boundaries or was out of my comfort zone, it's harder for me to connect imagery to it. Whereas with this album in particular, I felt like I knew exactly what every song looked like and how it translated visually.
So, yes, it made that process a lot easier and a lot more inspired. "Green" is about the river in the town where I grew up, and that's what the video is. We went out and filmed the river and the area where I grew up.
How does building songs from memories like "Green" help you stay present?
That's something I struggle with a lot, the recapturing. For instance, in the video for "Green," there's a tension. I moved away from Sacramento, where I grew up, to San Francisco in 2006. I've always had this conflicted relationship with that choice. What would my life have been if I had never left?
Obviously, I never would have met my wife. I wouldn't have my kids. I love everything about what my life is now. But I used to just hang out at the river all the time. I just love that place. The place where I lived for the last 15 years in San Francisco was very urban. I thought my life was going to be this different thing, where I spent a lot more time connected to nature.
So, songs like "Green" for me, and making that video, almost capturing it and like eulogizing it, that actually did make me feel this sense of comfort. I can still channel that. It can still be something positive.
It also inspired me to start getting back there. I started taking my daughter back to Sacramento a lot more over the last year, inspired by those conclusions that I came to making the album. It's been really positive in that respect.
But to answer the question, when I create something that channels that [memory], it is this really comforting thing. It feels like this makes up for the fact that I don't get to spend as much time there as I would have hoped at an earlier time in my life.
I can see how making that song was healing. Reconnecting with a part of your life that has always had a certain amount of tension.
The other component is that when you have a family, you start to realize if I found myself being depressed or unhappy, it was a very selfish thing. Being fortunate to have had a family and found a partner in life makes you realize this is bigger than you.
I can deal with being sad for months or years at a time. But when you realize how that affects the people around you, you realize it's not that simple. It basically makes it an imperative. You have to try to be as emotionally healthy as you can be for your family and the people you love.