I’m delighted to be releasing Open Air with double bassist Keith Lowe today. This began with a video Keith posted on Facebook, improvising bass in his garden one morning, with the sound of birds, wind and running water around him. I couldn’t resist sampling it, shaping it into a song and playing over it. The rest of the EP felt like opening out Russian dolls – I sampled and treated sounds from the first track to create a strangely alien soundcape which we both then played over. I created sampler instruments from Keith’s bass and cello, and played the final track. It’s been a very organic and enjoyable way of making music.
What I particular admire in Keith’s playing is that, despite being an extremely accomplished session bassist, he has the taste and restraint to play only those notes that are really needed. The first track could easily have been New Age – it has wind chimes, birdsong and treated piano, for heaven’s sake! – but his monolithic bowed bass takes it somewhere profound.
I’m enjoying getting back into recording and have a number of collaborations and solo works in the pipeline. Elsewhere, work with Brian Eno continues to take me to unexpected places. As it should!
You can listen to the tracks on my bandcamp page. My entire bandcamp collection, including collaborations with Tim Bowness, Thomas Feiner and Jon Durant can now be purchased at a discount.
