Adam Lane: Solo Works

The band:

Adam Lane (amplified and acoustic double bass, spoken word, sound design)

Adam Lane: Solo Works Photo by Peter Gannushkin

Lane has also developed a challenging solo repertoire, combining amplified and acoustic double bass work with spoken word and sound design. His first solo piece, STARSEARCH, was commissioned by Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions and performed there as part of their solo performance series in 1997. The work is a 45 minute solo piece utilizing amplified double bass, spoken text and tape, as well as toy instruments and a canvas of musical Christmas lights that Lane modified to play in a variety of different and unidentifiable keys. Another of his solo pieces was performed as part of the 1999 San Francisco Festival of String Improvisation. The piece, NEW BASTARD 3, is again composed for solo double bass and tape, but this time the bass is passed through several different distortion pedals and preparations. The preparations include a small tape recorder that is placed between the bass strings. Contact mics are affixed to the tape player and run through a series of effects. The tape recorder contains a recording of the sound collage that is also being played over house speaker simultaneously. Because each version of the tape composition is deliberately unsynchronized there is a kind of warped effect that occurs naturally. The recorder is also used to activate the strings of the bass in such a way as to produce an unreal distorted sound. The bass sound is modified further by using a megaphone on the fingerboard in a guitar slide style, so the sound of the bass is closer to a sitar. STRINGS magazine called NEW BASTARD 3, "absolutely innovative music."