With Synthetic: Season 4, Rich Aucoin delivers the culminating chapter in a marathon synth odyssey that spans four double LPs, 162 synthesizers, and an epic recording process bridging Calgary’s National Music Centre and Los Angeles’ Vintage Synthesizer Museum. Marked by a creative exuberance and meticulous craft, this season tops its predecessors with the widest palette yet—a swirling convergence of historic analog instruments, rare prototypes, and modern digital augmentation. Tracks like “Drone Day,” “The Electric Music Box,” and “Ondes Martenot” channel cosmic ambience and kinetic energy, moving from trance-inducing drones to dancefloor sparkle via 103 distinctive synths, many with mythical presence or previously unheard on record.​

Season 4’s release in October 2025 comes after Aucoin’s pandemic-era interruption and reimagining of his original plan—each album, initially scheduled for six-month intervals, was painstakingly completed over nearly five years. The sheer scale and ingenuity of this project set it apart: synth enthusiasts and pop adventurers will note the inclusion of rarities like the McLeyvier, EMS Synthi 100, E-mu Modular, and even the Wurlitzer Sideman drum machine. The artist’s openness to collaboration—forty synth specialists contributed samples and textures—results in tracks that feel playful, expansive, and deeply consultative. Co-produced with Gordon Huntley (Leaving Laurel) and Halifax’s Joel Waddell, and mastered by Noah Mintz, every detail glows with analog warmth and spatial dynamism.​

Each composition holds tightly to Aucoin’s conceptual drive: sound as history, community, and emotional release. The album refuses mere nostalgia; instead, it invites the listener into a living archive where dance-floor euphoria sits alongside blissful meditation. The limited vinyl and digital editions allow fans to complete their box set, celebrating Aucoin’s rare accomplishment—one of the most ambitious synth feats in popular music. Synthetic’s earlier volumes earned Juno nominations and critical acclaim, and Season 4’s richness, energy, and narrative unity make it a generous high point for electronic music in the mid-2020s.