CLOT Magazine presents SIX MISSING - Spacious Mind

CLOT Magazine

We kick off the year with a mixtape from Six Missing, the ambient music project from Austin-based TJ Dumser, with which he wants to take us on a journey with pieces that transcend the illusion of time - transporting you into a timeless, formless, galactic-jell-o. The artist, who is also a sound designer and composer, began releasing music under the name Six Missing in 2017, a moniker that he took after experiencing a supernatural experience while recording in a studio near the site of the Revolutionary War’s Battle of Brandywine, in Pennsylvania, in which six participants remain unaccounted for. For Dumser, Six Missing is a way of experiencing music that is meant for inner journeying, calming sensations, and finding peace. The project started by experimenting with ambient and modular systems, and several albums down the line, Six Missing released his latest album in December last year. Titled Here For Now, the album deals with themes around being in the present moment - especially during uncertain times. For TJ, this was during a time of displacement for him and his wife as a way to cope with the uncertainty. Here For Now is comprised of what Dumser refers to as “musical compost” — a concept that isn’t nearly as derogatorily gesturing towards the material as it sounds. “It’s a bunch of work that I’d previously done that I’d set out to release in its form, but something didn’t feel totally right. For the mixtape he has prepared for us, Dumser says that he wanted to find tracks that were on the longer side, with a quiet confidence in their sparseness or even the guts to make production decisions that he admires. For him, Music algorithms these days are giving preference to shorter, more consumable, bite-sized pieces of music, and it makes complete sense to me. However, as a listener, he wants to really spend some *time* with an artist and allow myself to sink into their work.