STAHV, the solo project of Seattle-based musician Ari Rosenschein, continues to evolve with the new release Sentiens Eklektikos. What began as a low-tuned exploration of atmospheric soundscapes has blossomed into a genre-bending project that seamlessly blends doom, darkwave, and psychedelia elements. Sentiens Eklektikos presents a surreal narrative, imagining an AI achieving sentience through a psychedelic experience. The album’s layered textures, ethereal vocals, and experimental instrumentation create a unique and immersive sonic landscape. Rosenschein’s collaboration with producer John Getze has resulted in a rich and immersive listening experience.
With its innovative approach to songwriting and production, Sentiens Eklektikos marks a significant step forward for STAHV. The album’s ability to blend disparate genres and create a cohesive and captivating listening experience demonstrates a clear and bold artistic vision backed with actual musical talent. Rosenschein took some time to discuss the album, STAHV’s history and evolution, and more.
What’s the history behind STAHV?
STAHV started when I first moved to Seattle in 2014. I started recording a bunch of doomy, slower, heavier stuff on acoustic guitar. I put it away for a little bit while I was working on another project called Teacher with my drummer friend Jon Mercer. We did a retro doomy thing and put one record out on a local label called Devil’s Child. That was cool. It was an incredible moment.
I returned to STAHV a few years later with these low-tuned acoustic, dirge-sounding things. Think of Earth. I started messing around with them and putting more layers on them. All of a sudden, the thing exploded. It wasn’t called anything in terms of having a name. When I was preparing to put it on SoundCloud, it was Autumn. I was like, “What should I call this?” It dawned on me—It’s just got to be STAHV. “STAHV” is “Autumn” in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic. It means fall. I was like, oh, that’s the name, and it stuck. That was in 2017.
A label called Forbidden Place Records released it on vinyl, and another called Solid 7 released a cassette. I released the digital version. Since then, I’ve just been making weird recordings. The music has morphed from that initial somber, foresty, acoustic doom.
Then it went through psychedelic and weird phases. Over the last three or four years, it’s become more of a power pop, psych, and indie thing. STAHV started taking on more new wave, doomier, and maybe dark wave flavors. That’s where it’s ended up now: this weird mash of influences, including even solos that are a little bit metal-ish. But then, the new record is also very vocal heavy. There are tons of fucking harmonies. On top of that, it’s a concept record.
Tell us more about the concept that underpins the new album:
Sentiens Eklektikos ponders the question: What if an artificial intelligence took acid and came to find its own sentience, like actual human sentience, but through this weird experience? That’s the general idea. All the songs connect to that in different ways.
Initially, a lot of things inspired it. There was this show called Scavengers Reign that I was excited about on Netflix. But mostly, it was these songs. I played a song for my wife, and she said, “This is totally about AI, right?” Initially, I was like, “No,” because I thought it was more about that movie Annihilation, but everybody else heard all this AI stuff—the idea of what intelligence is, what sentience is, and what it means to understand the world.
I started working with a friend named John Getze who has a label called Ako-Lite Records. We started sending stuff back and forth and collaborating conceptually. He’s he’s not, like, sending me tracks or anything. He’s a producer, like in the Rick Rubin kind of brain. He thinks about stuff a lot and has incredible ideas for the storyline. He inspires me in many ways, and he’s been there for me. We were old friends. We played in bands in high school, and he has always been there for me.
It’s an ongoing thing creatively. Very fun. He put out a record a few years ago, the first record on this label for a band that was connected to a project we loved as kids. This guy, Jim Jones, played in a band called Thee Hypnotics, which were a cool psych band from the ’90s. John put out that record (Jim Jones’ new record) called Ain’t No Peril, and it fucking rules. I played a bit of guitar on that record and helped to be a sounding board for him.
After that experience, I asked him if he wanted to put my new record out. Then we started collaborating on it, and it’s this weird mashup. There’s a lot of Bowie and Gary Newman and some new-wave Duran Duran elements. There are also some harmony guitar leads and crazy drum machines. John is just a real concept-level guy. It wouldn’t have been a concept record without him in many ways. So yeah, it’s basically about AI and what it means to be sentient.
The album’s artwork is fantastic; tell me a bit about it.
The cover is wild and almost tells the story. I’m excited about the cover. Its by Marinko Milosevski. Something like Blade Runner is very special to me but mushroomy. It’s very 60’s retro. It reminds me of Asimov’s Science Fiction and those old magazines. John makes these awesome-looking records. He cares about the aesthetics and the concept.
Does STAHV connect in any way with your other project, Colony Drop?
The guys in Colony Drop are my other trusted listeners. They were great sounding boards for this release. I would put these songs out in our group chat. They listened, and everyone asked if I was making a concept record. And, like I said earlier, I didn’t even realize it then. It was still taking shape, but a couple of the guys in Colony Drop saw it taking shape as a concept before I did, just like John and my wife did.
With Colony Drop, we share everything. We have a very active band thread. We share everything—Ben (Burton) constantly shares demos with the band. Ryan (Moon) will make a record literally in an hour. And it’s good. He writes so many cool riffs and has so many projects that I can’t even keep track of them all. So yeah, we share stuff all the time. It’s very positive and supportive.
Did you play all of the instruments on Sentiens Eklektikos?
I play everything. I play all the guitars, all the bass, all the drum programming, and all that kind of stuff. There are two guests on the new record, which I’ve never done on a STAHV record. A fantastic saxophonist, Stuart Dace, plays on two songs. It’s very kind of Roxy music.
A very unusual guest is David Benson. He plays drums in the death metal band Acephalix and has an acoustic project called Said Sara. Dave and I have been friends since I followed his band, Transition, in high school (1990s). I was obsessed with them. I had their cassette. They were the first band I knew ever to put an actual record out. They were on SST.
We reconnected at Northwest Terror Fest in 2022. It was such a killer vibe. We hadn’t seen each other in such a long time, but it was awesome. We stayed in touch and talked about stuff back and forth. And I was like, ‘Dave, could you do some vocals?’ But they’re not ‘vocal’ vocals, like in a singing way. They’re the craziest vocals. He does almost like a rock opera. He plays a character, a police officer, who’s running after the protagonist. It’s like Tommy by The Who. Throughout the song, he’s doing his thing. And at the very end, he’s chasing after the main character. And you can hear him start freaking out. He sent me a complete song-length take of him voice-acting like a video game. It was awesome.
Do you see yourself gathering some musicians around you to perform the new material live?:
I may. Some friends have offered to assist, and it would be fun to play it live that way. I’m totally into the idea. Given that, when it comes to live performances, I’ll make tracks out of most parts at home and play those tracks in a live setting. It doesn’t have the push-pull of a band that way. I loosen it up with my guitar and my voice. I make those parts a little looser. From the label, John wants me to try playing with some people. I’m going to try to. It’s logistics, like, can I get people in a room? And is there time to teach people? That’s a goal of mine.
