“The spirit of the whole enterprise is working against or beyond idiomatic arts. While it sounds serious, it’s actually more of a playful thing. It’s about painting outside the lines just because,” says David Psutka, the label’s creator. Also known as ACT!, Psutka is the leader of Halocline Records and the curator of their latest compilation, How Far Will You Take It?

He refers to the “Spectrum of formlessness” as the focal point for this introspective body of work. When imagined as a body of water, it is quizzical, unclear, and colourful. 

How Far WIll You Take It? is filled with metallic percussion and aquatic synths. It conjures and combines wind, water, wood, earth, fire, and minerals. It contorts, expands, and contracts. Halocline Trance’s latest release is the soundtrack to the underwater stage in a glitchy video game. It’s eccojams made from scratch. It’s chalky, blocky, and structured one moment; indefinite, spiritual and spacey the next.

Psutka speaks to RANGE on a video call while on vacation in Hawaii. Standing in the shade in a navy silk robe, he describes the collaborative efforts that Halocline Trance is about. The label calls Toronto home, but its output reaches frequencies we might only imagine on the edges of the universe. 

“You can tell that there’s a lot of trust and understanding between all of the different collaborators, and that it’s just deeply collaborative music. You can pick any record on the catalogue now and just see how hybridized and intertwined it is, and that’s cool,” Psutka remarks. “That’s really the energy of Toronto right now. It seems, to me, a very collaborative time in Toronto music. I’m happy to be a part of that.”

Since its founding in 2015 and the expanding of the roster in 2020, Psutka decided it was the right time to do a summary of what Halocline Records has done so far. They play with the polarity of abstract sound versus songcraft. In a saturated electronic music scene of four-to-the-floor beats, somewhere below is a concentration of mineral-rich sonic textures. 

As an artist, returning to previous work provides a chance to be more explicit with ideas that were intrinsic. Only recently did Psutka float the idea to compile a retrospective. There was zero urge before to look back, only to keep forging ahead. Then it was an urge that could no longer be quieted. He explains, “After a certain amount of time, I feel like you can go back to things you did when you were younger objectively and just see what’s there.” 

The title, How Far Will You Take It?, is provocative and multitudinous. “It applies to the personal and the collective,” Psutka ponders. Each track answers the question in its own way, while inquiring further. 

Psutka illustrates the significance behind the label’s name, Halocline Trance: “I was always on this flight from Toronto to Heathrow. You go north of Newfoundland and then pass Greenland and you’re up in a very barren, unforgiving part of the world, which is the North Atlantic,” he says. “I always look at the window and look at the ocean and be like, ‘Man, 20 feet under the surface of this water has to be the most peaceful place on Earth.’ And it became an airplane meditation or some shit.” 

How Far Will You Take It? is out now via haloclinetrance.ca

Five Artists On The Halocline Trance Roster You Should Know…

David Psutka, a.k.a. ACT!, a.k.a. Egyptrixx, has always found it hard to stay within any kind of conventional design. Whether it’s a project, a performance style, or a whole career in music, he’s always blurred everything together. As the head of Halocline Trance, his curation and revisiting of his own tracks proved to be quite the introspective exercise. His alternate project Egyptrixx was back-burnered, but is now back and blooming. “Chrysalis Records (feat. Robin Dann and Carlyn Bezic)” under this moniker is a new arrangement and re-recording of an early release that warmly complements this icy body of work. 

Myst Milano –  myst milano. doesn’t let you put a question mark where they put a period. “Oh Boy” is about doing the most and not being impressed with anything less. The synth is inquisitive but the straight-faced recitation leaves nothing left unanswered. Through electronic music and hip-hop, the Edmonton-born rapper and DJ writes love letters that cross genres, generations, and geographical lines. 

Casey MQ – It’s always a sweet, poppy treat with Casey Manierka-Quaile. The Montreal bubblegum hyperpop pioneer brings us refreshing delights, when he’s not busy cooking them up with the likes of Cecile Believe, Shygirl, Dorian Electra, and more. He recently worked on the baby blue-imbued record choke enough with Oklou. With textures and tones on the softer, silkier end of the spectrum, Casey MQ’s voice, doused in chorus effects, floats above bouncy synths on “Candyboy.” It’s a quick and delicious breather before the compilation returns to swallowing the ocean whole. 

Kat Duma – The darkwave songstress casts magic with gloomy vocals and dreamy basslines. Adding a pop edge to industrial and ambient multi-instrumental compositions is her specialty. Hailing from Belgrade, Duma takes a slow burn approach to creating spellbinding songs that are both cozy and numbing. 

Stefana Fratila – An artist who we know already as an interplanetary wind waker. Out of all her otherworldly tracks, her brilliance is heard here on “Earth.” A lover of soft pads, she takes us on an adventure that sounds like muted horns calling you forward to heaven, only for you to fall back down through the clouds to land in a dense forest.