On Eargoggle Fodder, Combinator melds melodic progressive metal, synth-funk, soulful vocals, and glitchy breakbeat electronica into a dizzying, post-futurist dreamscape. Schizophrenic, yet born of an overall cohesive vision, the record is at once funky and ornate; the auditory distillation of one man’s wildest melodic hallucinations. Based around the notion of electro-acousticism – the melding and necessary usage of both electronic elements and non-digital sources – Eargoggle Fodder exists at the nexus of the organic and synthetic.

A singing and songwriting bassist, Sean Fairchild is the creative center around which the Combinator universe orbits. Born in Malaysia and spending years living and traveling abroad, he developed a keen taste for the musical forms and tonalities of Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America. Gifted a bass by a family friend at the age of 13 while living in Tokyo, Fairchild studied music and Ethnomusicology at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Combinator began as a trio with guitarist Greg Pascale and drummer Isaac Chirino, based around the of the core concepts of using the bass guitar as a band-leading instrument and the combining of seemingly disparate musical styles and elements. They released an early EP titled Vice & Passion, and a widely distributed full length titled allsound.

“I was always the primary songwriter, lyricist & vocalist” explains Fairchild. “As life changed for Greg and Isaac, they eventually drifted out of full time playing. Combinator became more and more a solo project for me and a rotating collective of co-conspirator musicians.”

Fairchild wrote, recorded, mixed, and mastered Eargoggle Fodder from his studio, Fairchild Sound. Acoustic drums for “Juggernaut” were recorded at ARogue Story Studios, West Seattle. Featured on the record are Phillip ‘Godcloud’ Coleman, Morgan Wick (A Sense Of Gravity), Joshua Kossak (Miller Campbell), Nick Burbey (Spandex Nation, Las Vegas’ Fremont Street Experience), Jason Everett aka Mister E (bandleader of Deep Energy Orchestra, feat. Trey Gunn of King Crimson), Isaac Chirino, John Paynich, and Gianfranco Foddai.

Lyrically, Eargoggle Fodder is laced with a pervasive sense of bitter sweetness, reflecting the year of its creation. The record moves through the realms of uncertainty and longing, finally arriving at a sense of self-assured redemption. Give yourself over to the record, and you might just find your own reality transformed.

Sean Fairchild is an Emmy Award winner, for music produced and performed for a Women in Film short film. He is endorsed by MTD Basses, Genzler Amplification, GHS Strings, Access Bags and Cases, Tsunami Cables, Bartolini Pickups, and Sonic Nuance Electronics.

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