Halifax musician Asif Illyas returns to his roots with fully analog album ‘Autonomy’

A Halifax musician is releasing a fully analog instrumental album.

In a world where artificial intelligence is reshaping the way music is made, Halifax musician and film composer Asif Illyas is going in the opposite direction with his latest project.

The well-known multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer is releasing a new solo acoustic album called “Autonomy,” a project built around a no-edits, no-plugins approach.

“It’s basically me trying to create the most natural version of music I can,” Illyas said in an interview with CTV Atlantic’s Katie Kelly. “I call it 4D fingerstyle. I’m playing the drums, the bass, the internal, like guitar or keyboard, and then melody all at once which is what makes up the whole band, but I’m doing it all from just my two hands on the one guitar.”

“Autonomy” marks a major change from Illyas’s two decades of work scoring films and TV. The record was performed live to tape with no editing, using a rare custom-built Greenfield acoustic guitar.

“It’s got this bizarre tone, it’s actually the only type of mahogany in the world like that,” said Illyas.

Illyas will perform “Autonomy” top to bottom, along with a few vocal favourites, at The Carleton in Halifax on Dec. 4, where fans can see his 4D fingerstyle technique in person.

He is also hosting a free workshop next week at Long & McQuade in Halifax for anyone interested in percussive guitar, recording techniques and breaking down how he creates multiple instrument sounds on a single acoustic guitar.

Illyas hopes these songs will find a way into people’s routines.

“I love listening to music all the time,” he said. “If you come to our house, it’s music playing 24/7. So, I hope these songs find their way into people’s routines… something they’ll come back to again and again.”