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COVID-19 inspires rockers to chill out on unusual instruments

Isolation is breeding inspiration for musicians making ambient music on unusual instruments.

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As a 25-year veteran of the Vancouver rock scene, Stephen Hamm has held down the bottom end of bands like Slow and Tankhog, as well as Nardwuar and The Evaporators and zany duo Canned Hamm.

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The bassist’s career is one mostly defined by aggressive attack and high volume.

Hamm’s most recent recording, Theremin Man, finds him venturing into the spaces where sound waves and futuristic space gently flow over you rather than pound.

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Shifting his focus to the eclectic electronic instrument patented by Léon Theremin in 1924, which the “Thereminist” plays by interacting with magnetic fields generated between two antennae, Hamm has studied under such luminaries as German virtuoso Carolina Eyck and N.Y.-based Dorit Chrysler.

Incorporating synthesizers into his Theremin playing, Hamm creates music that is, by its very nature, meditative. So it seems quite natural that he has taken to presenting regular Sunday evening Theremin music and meditation sessions to sooth COVID-19 isolated minds. Running from 8 to 9 p.m., they can be heard at Stephen Hamm: Theremin Man on Facebook, broadcast live from The Celestial Grotto.

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It’s an intriguing turn for an instrument that was most associated with classic horror film soundtracks and Jimmy Page boring everyone to tears during his Dazed and Confused solo in Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains the Same film.

“That was one of the first times I saw Theremin used, disappointingly, and then Jon Spencer Blues Explosion used it, and there were all those science fiction movies like The Day the Earth Stood Still,” said Hamm.

“But it was seeing Amen Ra opening for Grinderman that really proved to me, wow, you can really do stuff with this instrument, and he blew me away. That was where I made the switch over to really getting interested in it.”

As someone who “thinks in melody,” Hamm kept on developing his skills on the Theremin, which is incredibly hard to play well, and slowly gained access to a global network of virtuosos. In 2017, he headed to his first major workshop in Paris to study with some of the best players in the world.

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“It was life-changing for me, because I learned I knew nothing of the thing, so I took lessons and now it’s a real passion,” said Hamm.

“The record all kind of fell into place from my solo act as something I could really have fun with and be who I am. The meditations came about because I’ve studied Vipassana (meditation) and when everything fell apart with COVID-19 and I started to panic, I slowed down and thought I could do something that helped me and others.”

And why not?

If the likes of Diddy, Arianna Huffington, and Thrive are collaborating on a free fall-asleep meditation available from Audible.ca, then more indie artists should be getting into getting down in a relaxed way.

Thankfully, that is exactly what has been happening, with many musicians better known for upbeat boogie being able to explore ambient and chill out sounds on other unusual instruments.

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Two other recently released records that stand out in the novel coronavirus New Age feature the pedal steel guitar being used in settings very different than the usual country and western twang.

Vancouver guitarist Scott Smith’s Lifeboat: Explorations in Pedal Steel is described by its creator as “a good morning chill album.” Released on the artist’s Bandcamp site, the 8-track album was composed and recorded in early March.

Influenced by artists such as Greg Leisz, Bill Frissell, Jim O’Rourke and others, Smith played pedal steel, electric and acoustic guitars, piano and bass and recorded and mixed the album at his East Van home. Songs such as Floating Above it All achieve the title, lifting the listener into a shimmering sky of sliding sounds.

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“I had been doing tons of gigs, was recording an album with Leeroy Stagger and then everything fell through which was really hard,” said Smith.

“The album came about because of a project I have with jazz guitarist Tony Wilson titled Reach for the Sky and the first one was a slow song, then so was the second one, and so on. There was this need to write things that calmed me down because I was really edgy about my way of life abruptly ending, so composing this became a process of writing what I needed to hear over that two-week period it took to make the record.”

Now that the album is done, Smith says he has discovered that there is something to the fact that when you have no agenda — touring, performing, etc. — to making an album, you can come up with something special. Smith is performing ongoing Facebook Live events, and looks forward to presenting the new pedal steel-heavy instrumental material on stage someday.

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Another pedal steel wizard with a new EP is Jonny Campos of Grammy-winning modern Louisiana Cajun band Lost Bayou Ramblers. His latest project, Weeks Island, has just dropped an ambient pedal steel EP on Nouveau Electric Records titled Droste.

While not conceived with COVID-19 chilling out specifically in mind, it also came out of a panic state. Campos says he can certainly appreciate the music working to relax the listener.

“When Lost Bayou won the Grammy, we went on indefinite hiatus that stretched onwards of eight months,” said Campos.

“I only had a couple of gigs and started getting antsy about producing something, so me and the drummer got together and recorded the whole EP over two sessions. By chance, we threw a dart at the calendar and April 4 was the release date, which was serendipitous to the current panic now.”

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Named for an effect where a picture keeps continuously appearing within itself, the album takes each of its titles from a place in Lousiana — Point Fortuna, Racoon Island, etc. — and the project’s name Weeks Island is a spot in Iberia Parish famed for it’s giant salt mine. In a way, each song is a picture and the music imparts its own kind of imagery.

“Droste is meant in a film way, but it was rife for musical meditations on infinity too,” said Campos.

“Originally it was supposed to be a heavier Krautrock band, but after experimenting with ambient steel I went that way. I think Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno’s Atmospheres record was a major influence.”

With self-isolation and travel bans, one of the best ways to take a road trip is to take it in your head. Albums such as Droste, Lifeboat: Explorations in Pedal Steel, and Theremin Man are musical voyages of discovery.

sderdeyn@postmedia.com

twitter.com/stuartderdyn

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