Alan Harman is the solo minimal synth project of Ethan Harman from the small town of Port Hope, Ontario, about 1.5 hours outside of Toronto. Suction Records’ minimal synth/post-punk sublabel, Ice Machine, is proud to present Alan Harman’s debut physical release, “Human Research Program,” a full-length cassette compiling selections from a series of self-released digital EPs and singles. The project came to our attention via an interview in Legowelt’s Shadow Wolf zine. The interview was conducted by Legowelt himself, who wrote: “Buried deep in the snow of the Canadian internet one will occasionally find a great authentic undiscovered artist who lives in obscurity devoted to their art. An artist like ALAN HARMAN.”

Alan Harman cites the influence of early-Martial Canterel (aka the solo project of Xeno & Oaklander’s Sean McBride), Belgian minimal synth project Snowy Red, and Canadian cult synth duo (and Ice Machine label alumnus) Ceramic Hello, who Harman described in his Shadow Wolf interview as, “a perfect embodiment of Canadian sound because it gives you this cold, distant feeling which is exactly how it feels living here; isolated and far away from the rest of the world.”

The project came to be when Harman found himself disillusioned with the lack of band-mate prospects in Port Hope, realizing that synthesizers and drum machines could afford him the opportunity to become his own one-man-band. With a small set-up including a Korg MS-20 synth, a TR-808 drum machine clone, and a homemade spring reverb unit, Harman writes and records his songs alone, always beginning from scratch, and usually the tracks are written, recorded, and mixed within half-an-hour. The spontaneous nature of the recordings, and the raw tone of the electronics and vocal delivery, gives the music an authentic, early-‘80s synth DIY feel, at times reminiscent of minimal synth genre classics by Thomas Leer and Robert Rental, Absolute Body Control, and John Bender.

Cassette / Digital Album