For Aryo Adhianto, playing music has always been about learning and experimenting. The 39-year-old keyboardist burst into Jakarta's independent music scene more than a decade ago with his now on-hiatus electronic jazz group Space System and his solo project, A Fine Tuning Creation. But it’s been almost five years since he put out any new material. After teasing us with a very short EP back in June, Aryo has just released Sintaksis, his full-length debut under his birth name, Aryo Adhianto — perhaps a sign of him coming into his own.

Compared to his previous efforts, Sintaksis feels even more challenging and abstract. Each composition relies on rhythm-oriented minimalist electronic sounds that free-flow into generative bleeps and bloops. Some parts recall the pattern of traditional Indonesian music and others wouldn’t be out of place being played in an underground nightclub somewhere.

Aryo conceded that Sintaksis is the result of his exploration in sound design and rhythm using a new device as he put aside his main instrument, keyboard.

“Back then, I would make sketches of my music on a piano, looking for melodies and chords, but since 2018, I’ve been exploring sequencing on the music software Ableton, so I’ve put melodies aside for a moment,” Aryo explained. “Now, I just use sequencing with very minimal tracks, mostly four. I wanted to explore the possibilities of just using this one device. I just got bored of [making music the way I used to] and wanted to try something new — it was that simple."

Affinity for jazz

Taking music lessons from an organ tunggal player (solo keyboardist that usually plays background music at weddings) in the second grade, Aryo started his musical journey on a Technics KN 1200 keyboard playing at family events.

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