Racer Session #344 | Dan Phelps | October 2, 2016
Hello Racer folks near and far!
This Sunday we're very excited to welcome musician and composer Dan Phelps to the Racer Sessions. This will be Dan's first presentation at our weekly Sunday series, and those of us familiar with his music are very excited to experience his work in person. If you're not familiar with Dan's work, we highly encourage you to take a listen before hand at link above and read the artist's statement below. We look forward to seeing you at 8pm this Sunday at Cafe Racer!
From Dan Phelps:
"For most of my musical life I've played with other people, either in bands or as a freelance guitarist and producer. I make my own records, but they are more driven by my fascination with recording and sound than a desire to create something that could be easily performed live. Until about a year ago I never felt I had an approach to solo performance that would be worth airing out in front of people.
"but really what I am hoping for is a resonance between what's going on inside my head and what's happening in the room"
However, recently my work has been focused on traveling deep into the nuance of texture and timbre. I've developed for myself a setup that incorporates a laptop that I use for looping and manipulating my playing in real time. And thanks to a monthly residency where I improvise for 4 hours straight (I've come to think of this as my very own Stupid Human Trick) I've had ample time to explore the possibilities.
Because of the nature of the improvisation, I'm never sure where I'm headed...usually I know about how much time I have to fill up and that's it. In any given season there are some themes or ideas that might crop up several times, but really what I am hoping for is a resonance between what's going on inside my and what's happening in the room.
I'm in love with music for the power it has to be an instrument of catharsis, healing, expression, and therapy. There are days where I feel absolutely buried by the amount of darkness I see in the world, and improvising this way give me a place to channel those emotions. I've had people tell me about straight up visions that they had, personally profound things. I don't think that I'm a shaman or a witch doctor, I just think that sometimes the resonances are right where the music allows things to surface. Sometimes buried things are unearthed. Locked doors get opened."
