Chris Bartels

Chris Bartels is a producer, musician, husband, and father from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has spent hours upon hours of his life crafting textures, melodies, emotions, soundscapes, and stories through music. Bartels’ musical obsessions are varied, plentiful, and often. From the oceanic sounds of ambient project Elskavon, to the synth-driven dream pop of Bora York, to the moody dance songs of Hi-Fi Cali, there’s always another string of albums in the works.

Myths and Mold is the second official release under his own name. As a whole, the 5-song album delves into unique song structures previously unexplored by his former songs and projects. There was no initial direction Bartels had in mind when he first started writing what would become “Missoula,” and the starts of other songs. It was simply an escape from the task of songwriting the highly produced sound of a sophomore Bora York album. This was all about layers of drums and plenty of percussion, heavy emphasis on room microphones, different feels of guitar, and even more layers of vocals, including lower registers than before. Careful not to place boundaries, however, Bartels, along with the mixing finesse and co-songwriting of Taylor Lewin, would not shy away from things that felt right, whether that was a synth bass line or a rich mess of delay effects.

This is a collection of songs that go neither with nor against the grain. It’s not territory completely unfamiliar, and it’s not something identifiable. These songs are personal, albeit abstract, and were birthed during a season of life that merged gratitude and trial, solitude and struggle. Myths and Mold is set for a 2017 release.