Aphelion (Rhys Closson) has always had a taste for mysterious, melodic and dark music. As a young teenager growing up on Vancouver Island, he became obsessed with 90’s rap for the beats and eeriness. This grey love transitioned into tech step drum and bass by artists such as Evol Intent and Technical Itch. As a natural progression he went out and picked up turntables and started rinsing drum and bass records at home in his bedroom.
In high school he found out his alter ego had a love for acid and progressive house by artists such as Sasha, James holden and Nathan fake. He went on to create a music video before he graduated using “The Sky Was Pink” which landed in an art gallery in Victoria.
In 2009 he was introduced to Erik Posnikoff at a pool hall and they started a discussion about true progressive house. They made plans to meet up and mix which led to the birth of the duo re_Click. They went on to play many events on and off the island at iconic clubs such as HUSH, after hours venues and underground parties. They put out one official single out on the Vancouver Imprint Subspec Music with their good friend RAFH. Unleash the Kraken was then remixed by the likes of John Massey, Rennie Foster and Jay Zoney.
The underground scene in Victoria was very house centred so re_Click wasn’t able to keep a crowd unless they stayed in the tech house realm. Aphelion felt that something was missing and would travel to Vancouver to get his techno fix. He took notes from artists like Function, Marcel Fengler and Cio D’or brought in by Subversive.
This affinity for techno brought Aphelion around the world to clubs and festivals such as Berghain, Zukunft, and Dekmantel. The most influential moment from his travels was at Aquasella. Aphelion watched a hazy glow emerge through heavy clouds during a sunrise set in Northern Spain. At the same time Oscar Mulero effortlessly filtered thunderous rhythms that bounced off the mountains for festival-goers to absorb.
Aphelion’s love for the underground relocated him to Brooklyn in 2015 where he frequents Aphotic & Bunker parties. He took some music production classes also and started working on creating a new following centred purely around hypnotic techno.
Now in 2017 he is focused on doing what he loves— Playing sets, and working on releasing his first solo EP.
