There is something undeniably charming about old-fashioned. Even today, with the information overload and advanced technology all around us, people still enjoy the comfort and feeling of doing something the ‘old-fashioned way’. The music of Fan Sea, which appears to be a one-man bedroom project from Des Moines, Iowa, feels old-fashioned, even if the technology used to make it is anything but.

From Fan Sea’s myspace page we can assume two things: first, the picture of the musician holding an apple laptop suggests that the music is made mainly on a computer. Second: on the background of the page, we see an old-looking room with high ceilings and a classic looking wardrobe that might lead to Narnia. It is not always easy to blend the old with the new, but Fan Sea manages this very well, using an array of modern techniques to create something current that at the same time evokes black and white imagery and hints of nostalgia.

Hazy production along with very infrequent lo-fi, faded vocals give Fan Sea’s songs a wealth of charm while the bass and drum machines keep the tracks alive and moving. The backdrops are drenched in synth recalling especially newer Radio Dept. as the near complete absence of vocals is more reminiscent of Air France or Memory Tapes instrumentals.

But more than any of these bands, Fan Sea succeeds in creating a distinct ambience with his music. Sharing some glo-fi techniques with bands liked Washed Out or Small Black, Fan Sea makes you feel like you are floating, etched in time in a black and white beach photograph in a moment so pleasant it is almost hard to look back on. ‘Fan Sea’ therefore seems a more than appropriate name for this project as more references to the Ocean come up in songs like ‘Prufrock in Silent Seas’, and the former name for the project, Harbour.

If Fan Sea are representative of the unknown and undiscovered (at least to Ash Wizard) Des Moines music scene, we will hopefully be in for a few more pleasant Mid-Western surprises. So far, however, all we know about Fan Sea is the handful of songs from his myspace page, but we can only hope that he keeps moving forward while still looking backwards.