Maps of Music

Synthesis (2017)

Where the lyrics of Synthesis take you, and where it was really made.

Despite its title, Synthesis is not a remix: Lee said the old songs were rebuilt from the ground up.

Key places

Orchestral sessions at Ocean Way Studios (2017)

Recording site Ocean Way Nashville — The orchestral sessions for the album were recorded by the Nashville Music Scoring Orchestra at Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. The map point uses the database location for the studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Foxwoods Resort Casino as a recording location (2017)

Recording site Foxwoods Resort Casino — Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket is listed as a recording location for the album. The source does not say which sessions were recorded here. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Synthesis is the fourth studio album by American rock band Evanescence
• Released November 10, 2017 through BMG Rights Management
• Reworked orchestral and electronica versions of earlier songs, plus two new songs: Imperfection and Hi-Lo
• Includes instrumentals alongside the reworked material
• First album released by Evanescence as an independent band
• Orchestra arranged and conducted by David Campbell; production by Will Hunt (Spaceway) and Amy Lee

Background

• Band hiatus from November 2012 to April 2015, after the world tour for the 2011 third album
• Lee and Evanescence parted ways with long-term label Wind-up Records and became independent artists
• October 2015: Lee said she was focusing on solo projects
• February 2016: Lee said the band was working on the six-LP vinyl box set The Ultimate Collection (2017)
• February 2017: the band was confirmed to be working in the studio
• Lee announced Synthesis in a video posted on the band's Facebook page on May 10, 2017

Recording

• Orchestral sessions recorded by the Nashville Music Scoring Orchestra at Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, Tennessee
• Imperfection is preceded by a piano solo segue
• Hi-Lo was originally written in 2007 by Lee with Hunt in their first collaboration; it features a violin solo by Lindsey Stirling
• The Synthesis version of Bring Me to Life replaces the drums and guitars with strings and excludes the rap

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in 1994 in Little Rock, Arkansas by singer and keyboardist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody.
• Started as a duo that released independent EPs and a demo CD, Origin (2000).
• Signed to Wind-up Records in 2001.

Members

• Current lineup: Amy Lee (lead vocals, piano, keyboards, harp), Troy McLawhorn (guitar), Tim McCord (guitar; bass before 2022), Emma Anzai (bass), Will Hunt (drums).
• Lee has been the main songwriter since the band's start.

Career

• Debut album Fallen (2003) sold more than four million copies in the US by January 2004 and won two Grammy Awards.
• The Open Door (2006) followed, and the self-titled album Evanescence (2011) debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
• Went on hiatus after 2011, then returned in 2015 and released the orchestral Synthesis (2017).
• The Bitter Truth (2021) reached the top five of several Billboard charts.
• Sixth album Sanctuary was announced for June 2026.
• Total album sales are about 31.9 million.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Generally positive reviews overall
• Metacritic: generally favorable, with a weighted average score of 69 out of 100 from 4 critic scores
• Billboard (Christa Titus): called the album a risk; said its elegant orchestrations enhance aspects of the music that are often ignored
• Rolling Stone (Suzy Exposito): called the remake of Bring Me to Life an act of artistic justice for Lee
• The New Zealand Herald (Siena Yates): praised Lee's voice and the cinematic classical foundation but found the album weird and largely unnecessary
• Classic Rock (Stephen Dalton): called the guitar-free remakes an successful experiment with a windswept grandeur
• Variety (Roy Trakin): wrote that Lee firmly re-establishes herself as one of rock's pre-eminent vocalists
• Kerrang! (Paul Travers): found the electronic embellishments distracting, while noting Lee's vocals are more confident
• AllMusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine): called it a successful fusion that amounts to a step forward for Evanescence

Records

• US Billboard 200 debut at number eight in the week ending November 16, 2017, with 34,000 equivalent album units
• 30,000 of those units were traditional album sales
• Peaked at number one on the Classical Albums, Independent Albums, and Alternative Albums charts
• Debuted at the top of the Rock Albums chart
• Charted internationally in 20 countries

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Lee said the album is not a remix, but songs re-worked from the ground up, with different tempos, parts, intros and outros
• Hunt used a vintage Roland SVC-350 vocoder on Your Star; it accidentally picked up a distorted Mexican radio station at the end of the song
• For The End of the Dream, Lee wanted a re-recording that exposed a survivor's post-traumatic healing
• Lee acknowledged that taking songs that already worked and changing them was a risk
• Hi-Lo sat unfinished for years before it found a home on Synthesis, with strings and a full orchestra
• The Synthesis Tour was announced on August 14, 2017, and the album's orchestra changed in every city of the tour

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

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