Bobby Previte & Knox Chandler – present new collaborative album/ out now via Subsound Records

Previte – Chandler is a conversation between two opposing approaches toward the same goal: reaching a natural autonomy. An honored veteran of the NYC-scene, Bobby Previte employs an expanded conception of the modern drum set, a circularity that suggests rather than shows, using the powerful orchestrational might of the drum set to create form and meaning. Complementing the drum-work, Knox Using no synthesizers, Chandler’s guitar becomes a tone generator, generating what he calls “sound ribbons” – sonic fabrics made in real time that create a way of deconstructing and then enveloping and weaving together any series of individual pieces of music or film.

“Around that time I was in touch with Bobby and we had expressed finding a way to work together,” explains Knox Chandler describing the nature of the collaboration. “It was the end of COVID, so there was still some reluctancy to doing live shows, plus we live about 2 1/2 hours from each other, so we decided to start the project virtually. I sent a handful of Sound Ribbons to Bobby and he basically improvised to the tracks and sent them back to me. Bobby’s style of playing opened the door to shaping and composing the pieces. From there I added, subtracted and experimented (taking these pieces out of the Sound Ribbon concept), sending versions to Bobby for feedback.”

Opening the door for a conversation between two prolific artists, the process itself took an exploratory turn, helping both Previte and Chandler to discover new fascinating musical areas. “I mostly approached the drum tracks not always as rhythmic additions but as orchestrational ones.” – explains Bobby. “In some ways the drums carry the melodies in many of these tracks. I love to use the drums in this way, and not just as a pattern machine.”

Tracklist:
1.White Horse
2.Moonburn
3.Hallow
4.Streamtide
5.Lost Moon
6.Bottom Fader
7.Tick
8.National Tan
9.Pan
Order the LP/CD here or via Bandcamp here.

These two musicians, who circled each other for years in the New York City music scene, are now turning the deep chasm between them into a bridge connecting the natural and the supernatural, the audible and the spiritual.

“Every sound on the album is made by guitar, bass and drums/percussion. There are no synths,” remarks Knox. ‘Each of us exists in very defined sonic spaces. But the roles of our instruments are not usual, nor are they set. Sometimes the roles are turned on their heads in unexpected ways. To put it more simply, this is not a guitar/drums record with “drum grooves” and guitar “on top,” says Bobby Previte, describing the end result of their collaboration, as an “ever-shifting landscape of possibilities for each of the instruments.”

With the lyrical approach of Bobby Previte and the constant adjustment of soundscapes from Knox Chandler, the two artists present a unique conversation. “The contrast of the natural drum sound with my use of electronics adds dimension,” explains Knox. While Bobby adds: “We are constantly passing foreground content and background content between us, which creates a hyper-dimensional structure that is not just in front of you, but as deep as it is wide, somewhat like the difference between modern “flat” painting and older “perspective” painting.”