Spinnan, by R. Keenan Lawler & John Krausbauer

Spinnan

by R. Keenan Lawler & John Krausbauer

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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Spinnan 34:33

about

John Krausbauer on Spinnan:

I had been following Keenan's music through the mid-late aughts, after becoming aware of his recordings around that time. Whether it was the "Music for the Bluegrass States" (Table of the Elements) album or the "Harmonic Series" (Important Records) compilation I came across first, I can't quite remember, but was struck by both the instrument (steel bodied resonator guitar) he mainly performs on and the extended techniques he employs to draw out rich, textured, alien-like, complex harmonies. The music was right up my alley and was one of the few voices in the American Underground I felt a close kinship towards. It wasn't until many years later that I would finally reach out to him to both express my interest in his work and suggest a tour around the U.S. Midwest - Keenan's birthplace and lifelong residence and my birthplace and place of upbringing.

The tour was scheduled for solo performances, which we did for the first three or so shows, but after an impromptu collaboration in Lexington, KY, we decided we were onto something with our 'just'-tuned, long durational, bowing music. They were techniques I had employed and used many times, specifically in my amplified strings ensemble - Ecstatic Music Band, but unique with the instrumentation of Keenan's steel bodied resonator (and my banjo) and without the saturated overdrive of the EMB, but instead a mellow amplified-only (no OD) sound of the acoustic instruments, which in turn draw out particular sonic detail in the bowing and resonation. Something that was more akin to the zones Keenan had explored, himself, with his collaborations as a satellite member of PELT, in the early-aughts.

Although we hadn't planned on any live collaboration, we had agreed to set some dates for recording in the middle of tour, while on break in Louisville, KY (Keenan's hometown). After running into numerous technical problems with the available recording equipment, we decided we would reconvene the following summer in Indianapolis, IN (my hometown) to record at my mother's house with my wife (Kaori Suzuki) engineering the session. After some time away from the initial music making I decided to switch from my violin to banjo, producing a sound more similar to that of the steel body resonator and bringing the two voicings of the music closer together. Two compositions came out of the session - "Spectre of Radiants" (ANTS, Italy) and "Spinnan" (Debacle, USA). The most significant difference to be found between the two recs is with the additional instrumentation of bells and oscillators I also play on "Spinnan". Otherwise, the main focus remains very determined and similar on the two recordings - long, slow, unfolding, harmonically dense three-dimensional sonics.

credits

released November 12, 2021

R. Keenan Lawler - National Steel Resonator Guitars
John Krausbauer - banjo, bells, oscillators

Recorded 2018 by Kaori Suzuki

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Debacle Records Seattle, Washington

Seattle Record Label

Since 2005

debaclerecords.com

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