For more than 10 years, Big|Brave have been exploring their devastatingly heavy but finely crafted sound. A significant part of that exploration is Mat Ball’s devotion to always find a new approach to the electric guitar. Amplified Guitar, his first full-length solo effort, is a deep personal journey into that research.
“I spend a lot of time on my own in the rehearsal space working on music, investing time in my relationship with the electric guitar, continuously trying to sculpt out a style of playing and of making sound that could be more or less my own,” Ball says. “As most of this time is primarily dedicated to working on Big Brave ideas, at some point in 2019, I realized that some of these explorations and experimentation could probably work on their own, in a solo context. It never stemmed from the need to do something separate from the band but was simply the result of the constant need and joy I extract from investigating the sonic possibilities of the instrument. As the idea of recording a solo record then became something I started thinking about more and more, it wasn’t until Josh Ford and Brian Barr approached me about wanting to release an LP of my work on their new label, The Garrote, that I finally took the leap. With their encouragement, I booked time at a studio and started working more concretely on what would become this LP.”
The process of creation Ball decided to take was different from the one with Big|Brave. “As the playing utilized on this record can be quite similar to my work in Big|Brave, I had to think about composition in a completely different way—i.e. how to tell a story on my own and how to create a piece of music that no longer relied on the great playing of Robin and Tasy (two-thirds of Big|Brave),” he admits. “In the early stages of conceptualizing, I decided that I’d approach this record in the song format by way of writing a number of shorter pieces instead of fewer long form pieces. As a starting point, I laid out the different techniques and approaches I had developed with the instrument over the last several years. With this as a foundation, I attempted to utilize these various methods narratively, making each piece its own gesture. The album then became a sort of résumé of my current approach to the electric guitar and amplification.”
Ball’s experimentation with the guitar started very early. “I’ve been playing guitar since I was quite young, and like most, the instrument was always used conventionally by playing chords and notes in a technical fashion. It was around my mid 20s that I started getting into minimalism, sound art, and sound installations while working on sound pieces of my own,” he recalls. “With the electric guitar at my disposal, I started utilizing the instrument as a sound-making object. Beginning to experiment with drone and feedback, I recorded what I would then use as the foundational element of these sound installations. At this point, I had taken a break from playing in bands. Then, once I started playing again (in what would become Big|Brave), I continued to utilize the guitar in this fashion rather than as a “riff” producing device, bringing the freedom of sound-making to the band environment.
“Now, as an absolute devotee of sound, I am always looking for ways to make new ones. However, being too stubborn to learn how to make music with computers, synthesizers, or other instruments, all I am left with is the electric guitar and the amplifier. As this may initially seem like an obstacle, it forces me to keep experimenting with the only instrument at my disposal through non-traditional techniques, tunings, and anything else I can throw into the mix. I might eventually have to move on to another instrument, but with very minimal effects and different combinations of amplifiers, I am still somehow finding ways to surprise myself with new sonic discoveries.
“Funnily enough, with some of the pieces on the LP, I have gone full-circle and reintroduced some ‘actual’ guitar playing. As these specific pieces still rely heavily on amplification and feedback, it has been very interesting to combine these techniques I’ve developed in the last 10 or so years with the kind of guitar playing I thought I had forever given up on.”
The result is an entirely musical and beautiful work where Ball’s uses of amplified resonance and feedback often mimic the long gestures and sustained stones of bowed or woodwind instruments.
“Part of abandoning traditional guitar playing also stemmed from trying to make the guitar no longer sound like a guitar,” he says. “In 2009, I saw my first saxophone-based performances utilizing circular breathing to create continuous tones. This had a huge impact on me; it set me on a path to try to mimic and create the sustained tones that either a bowed or woodwind instrument is capable or producing. The way I discovered I could best achieve this was with amplitude and feedback. Utilizing these newfound tools that are now at my disposal, it opened up a world of possibilities both sonically and compositionally. (It was) something that I heavily relied on while composing this record.”
This album is a sort of dance enacted by Ball, his guitar, and a combination of amplifiers.
“As each room I perform in will have different influences on the sound, I have to dance with acoustics of the space. As for the positioning of the guitar in relation to the amplifier, an actual physical dance must occur. The slightest change in the positioning can have great affects on the sound. With feedback being such and crucial part of each composition, this dance is unavoidable. It’s a matter of trial and error, knowing the amps, knowing just how far to push the volume, and always being ready to back off before it gets untamable.”
Recorded at Hotel2Tango by Godspeed’s Efrim Manuel Menuck, Ball performed each of these beautiful songs in a single take. Plucking, strumming, bowing, or just slowly moving an electric guitar of his own construction in front of an array of amps, Mat Ball managed to expertly coerce some very deeply moving music from very little.
“During the pandemic, Scott Hughes (Obscura MFG) sent me one of the beautiful aluminum necks he had just started producing,” he explains. “Having always wanted to build a guitar myself, I no longer had a choice and finally had to do it. I went with a very dense wood and much brighter pickups than I had been used to playing with.
“The result made for a very clear-sounding guitar that was harmonically very rich. This richness made me focus much more on fragility and what I could do with the instrument when played delicately. The sparkle it had really ignited something within me. This is in part what led me to once again start playing “actual” guitar! As for the recording session, I had never indented to use a specific guitar, but as always, my never-ending sonic quest and constant experimentations naturally led to that moment.”
While listeners can enjoy Amplified Guitar at any volume, Ball was most assuredly turned way up when performing these pieces. “As the album was recorded with the amps cranked way up, the record does not necessarily need to be experienced at those levels. I play loud but one of the reasons why is to realize certain sonic qualities. The desired feedback and tone, which can only be achieved while playing at such levels, once captured on tape, exists as a document—as I had intended them to. After the recording process, loudness becomes less of a priority, and whether or not it is being heard at full or more minimal volumes, the essence of the performance should translate.”
Watch the video for “To Catch Light III” here:
For more from Mat Ball, find him on Bandcamp and his official website.
Photo courtesy of Stacy Lee
