Kevin Miller - Ghost Tones

The Free Jazz Collective 0

By Guido Montegrandi

On the bandcamp page dedicated to his last work (see below), Kevin Miller (guitar) gives notes and some explanation for every single track of his album so my observation here will be more about its general structure and about Miller’s attitude toward music.

Some of the tracks are composed, some are improvised, but in any case, each piece of music confronts itself with some self-imposed limitation or some external guideline reference - constraints can be very loose: ‘Moving Past’ is an improvisation with the pre-determined goal of playing for around twenty minutes.” (from Miller’s notes to the album); can involve precise cultural references ‘Proportions’, is essentially fully composed and uses various pitchsets inspired by Karlheinz Stockhausen” (same source) or can entail technical alterations ‘Take 2 Steps Down’ is an improvisation using the telecaster tuned two whole steps down. (same source).

If you take a look to Kevin Miller’s site ( www.kevinmillerguitar.com ) in the section Compositions you will find pieces that clearly illustrate his approach - here it is just an example

The last to pieces follow a different path, again Kevin Miller notes: The last two tracks on this recording are documents of a practice of mine which involves playing along with nature field recordings.

In the section Writings of his site we can read an interesting piece titled Some thoughts on the Role of Nature in My Creative Process in which the author focuses on the importance of being related to nature:

My goal, when striking a sound, is for it to contain the same type of energy that exists in nature, where complete stillness and unmitigated kinetic energy are one (…) There are certain images or image patterns that exist in nature which have been inspirational to me and have assisted in my forming a holistic practice model. For me, sound is everything. Sound is the core. Sound, when connected to nature as an energy source, can serve as a source of infinite possibilities.

And music sounds like the bare-bones of music itself and each note irradiates into sonic space for length of its existence. Again Miller gives us a clue talking about the last piece of this album; On ‘Twig’, I’m improvising in the way I usually approach this practice of playing along with field recordings; trying to disappear inside of the ecosystem and create a sonic space which effortlessly blends in while still being decipherable as myself playing the guitar.

A thoughtful solo guitar album that asks for dedicated attention and at the same time awakens in our mind the pleasure to roam about. Sounds like a case of wanderlust.

You can buy and download it on bandcamp:

Ghost Tones by Kevin Miller