blue forty-six: Dane Law

Exquisite, intricate minimalism composed by meticulously sampling individual plucked notes from an acoustic guitar and then arranging those notes into dazzling structures in a computer.

In doing so, Dane Law creates pieces for acoustic guitar that would be unplayable by human hands. The precise, squeak-free rendering of the pieces within the digital environment gives the instrument the feel of a harp or koto, even though the timbre is unmistakeably that of the same instrument that gave us every pop culture standard from Anji to Wonderwall.

“I sampled my acoustic guitar so I could play it via a Max patch I’ve made for live semi algorithmic improv,” explains Dane, better known in his day-to-day life as Adam Parkinson. “It was deliberately lo-fi sampling at home, letting the sounds of my home seep discretely into the recordings - if you listen carefully you might the rustling of my cat and the creaking of radiators buried beneath the notes.”

“During lockdown I become obsessed with literature about polar exploration, and spent a lot of time at home with my mind wandering off to arctic wildernesses … the album is a sort of accompaniment to these flights of imagination.”

It is endlessly fascinating music. But more than it is defiantly pleasurable and unacademic – a delightful tumble and twist of notes that takes your head to unexpected and happy places.

Big recommend for fans of classic Blue Tapes artists such as gayageum trio Hey String, or Richard Youngs and his playful tape-looped baritone acoustic guitar.

Praise for blue forty-six

"Dane Law's latest is a serving of low-key magic put together with acoustic guitar samples and a semi-algorithmic Max/MSP patch. Somewhere between Oval, The Books/Zammuto and Matmos but more folk-inspired, it's affecting, unexpectedly warm material." - Boomkat

“Cut through the modern clutter & online noise with the precisely placed guitar notes of Dane Law on Blue Tapes. Inspired by pristine polar landscapes he's sampled his guitar and rearranged the notes into a hypnotic & quite possibly healing, minimal masterpiece that should have you on the way to self-actualisation by lunch time." - The Slow Music Movement