Transcript for the Piece Audio version of English electronic duo plugs in with vintage synthesizers and heads into space

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In the large two story great room of Alpenhof Bed & Breakfast in Media, Pa. You'd normally be admiring the broad windows, crystal chandeliers, white stucco fireplace, wood carved images and baby grand piano. But on this day, the first thing you'd notice is a mass of keyboards and synthesizers.

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In a pair of back to-back cockpits of gear are English electronic artists mark Shreeve and Ian Boddy. They specialize in a sound that has roots in German space music from the 1970s like Tangerine Dream. But, perhaps ironically, Arc has a modern edge to this music of the future.

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Mark Shreeve: It is, but we use modern elements to, like drum loops, digital synths and samplers, but along with the sequencer based materiel to, so yeah it harkens back to the old stuff but we think we put a new tint on it.

Music

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mark shreeve and ian boddy have been recording separately since the early 1980s when they released their first recordings on cassette tapes. As Arc, they represent the state of the art in retro-space music, creating trance-like sequencer journey with bass lines that thud like cosmic rubber bands and atmospheres that reach for the sky.

Music

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In modern electronic music, solos are a rarity since no one actually plays a keyboard, but both shreeve and Boddy can still whip out soaring monophonic lead lines like this one on a new song called Trans-Marine.

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Mark Shreeve: Yeah it's a bit of a wild sound, it's basically out of tune. That's why it sounds like that,. The oscillators are split out of tune so it sounds quite wild.

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In these days when most live electronic music consists of a guy staring into the light of a laptop screen, it's a joy to watch Mark Shreeve bounding about his Switched-On Bach style synthesizer throwing switches moving patch chords and twisting knobs as he shapes and shifts his interlocking cycles of sound. Ian Boddy.

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Ian Boddy: It’s great fun to play because you can just sculpt the who thing and once mark gets it just flies.

Music

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In 2009, Arc played their first US concert ever in Philadelphia and they've released a digital album called Rise that's drawn from those performances. I'm John Diliberto and this has been an Echo Location, Soundings for New Music.

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