Dirty Inputs is Aaron Dawson, an electronic musician and video artist based in Toronto, Canada. Dawson was part of the Toronto ambient drone collective Off The International Radar and has shared the stage with the likes of Holy Fuck, A Place To Bury Strangers, Junior Boys, Hauschka, Growing, Nadja, Nonotak, God Is An Astronaut, Quintron and many others. Dirty Inputs’ euphoric synth-driven soundscapes search for the realm between the beautiful and the terrifying, creating a body of work that is often dark and brooding, and other times joyful and emotional.
"Dirty Inputs is all about luscious soundscapes built with synthesizers. Rarely has music sounded this epic and inspiring, with an unmatched intensity."
- Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival
"Dirty Inputs treads the territory between spectral ambient works and the synthesized soundscapes of krautrock."
- Burn Down The Capital
The Prism is Dirty Inputs' ninth release, and third on Toronto label Paper+Sound.
The Prism is an album about controlling your perception. Can you change your mood, your experience or your current situation by changing the way you perceive things? Is your mind powerful enough to shape your reality? Dirty Inputs retreats into the dark recesses of the inner sanctum to find out, and invites you on a psychedelic voyage through a personal phantasmagoria.
The Prism shifts and changes, leading through haunted corridors only to suddenly open up into unexpected chasms filled with crystal wonders. Celestial opener
The Slow Drop reaches up to the heavens, only to be dragged back down to the Abyss on the synth-laden Heavy Maybe (featuring an ethereal video directed by Nyles Miszczyk).
Field of Stars and Notification sees Dirty Inputs go pop, a rare occasion indeed, invoking shades of Flying Saucer Attack and Archers of Loaf.
The Diner Result floats into a hazy dance epic while A Datum in the Life loosely re-imagines the Beatles' A Day in the Life in the age of augmented reality. The storm of Weather Warning looms menacingly over the sea before breaking into glistening rainbow skies atop the crashing surf. Album closer When I Come Away channels Dirty Inputs' live feel that burns a doom-tinged path before blossoming into its own slow-motion apocalypse.
The trance ends, open your eyes. Something is different.
credits
released January 4, 2023
All songs produced and recorded
by Dirty Inputs in Toronto, 2020-2022.
Cover photo and artwork by Dirty Inputs.
Mastered by J.M. Ladd
Guitar on Field of Stars by Henry Sansom
More at dirtyinputs.com
Many thanks to Henry Sansom for his constant support and talent, and to The Bunn for the encouragement, listening, lent gear and honest feedback. Huge thanks also to Brandon Michael for their thoughtful and encouraging feedback, and to Marley Rosen for helping me breathe new life into A Datum in the Life when I couldn’t see what to do next.
Thanks to Nyles Miszczyk whose infectious enthusiasm helped create an actual portal to a new dimension and to J.M. Ladd for the mastering wizardry. To those friends who have stuck with me, I value our friendships even if I don’t come out much. Finally, thanks to Charity Chan for putting up with me all this time and for being so amazing! I love you all.
Dirty Inputs' synth-driven soundscapes search for a balance between the beautiful and the terrifying. The deeply complicated relationship between nature and technology. At times dark and brooding and at others joyful and emotional.
Toronto's multi-talented Heiki Sillaste crowned the year in electro, with rough 808 beats and vocoder narrations. More: https://t.co/I6ctBE1bVu. Terminal 313
Castle If's soundtrack to "Zardoz" is legendary, a brilliant recreation of sound and style that adds impressively to the original film. Blissful modular synth tracks... rikm