Kevin Kastning :: Silent Dimensions

Silent Dimensions :: Reviews and Quotes

Kevin Kastning, Bruno Raberg / Silent Dimensions

"The latest album by American multistring guitarist Kevin Kastning. Kevin Kastning has released more than 50 albums, but this is a duo album with Swedish bassist Bruno Råberg. He is a pianist, bassist, and instrument inventor who has invented many multi-string guitars, and his playing style is mainly improvisational music.

Born in 1961 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. He started playing the trumpet at the age of 7 and picked up the guitar at the age of 11, which is the start of his music career. After graduating from Wichita State College of Music, he studied at Berklee College of Music in 1985, but by then he had also studied privately with Pat Metheny.

The instruments used on this album are credited as "36-string double contra guitar", "16-string sub-contra guitar", "24-string sub-contra guitar", and "28-string contra guitar". "Contra guitar" means that it covers the range of the bass guitar (one octave below the guitar). A "sub-contra guitar" refers to a guitar that produces a lower sound than a normal bass guitar, and this time it seems to be set up to come out to Low-D.

A typical guitar is a 6-string, so if you say something like "36-string", you may be wondering, "What kind of shape does it have?" and "How on earth do you play it?" However, each guitar is shaped like the one shown in this photo.

Each guitar is often made of carbon fiber, and each string is basically strung next to a string with a different octave pitch.

It is said that the tuning pattern changes depending on the song, and each tuning pattern is posted on Kevin's website. For example, if we take the example of a "16-string sub-contra guitar" with the fewest strings, it seems that the tuning settings are as follows. It seems that there are cases where E is the lowest note, but since it is called "subcontra" in this case, it seems that the lowest note is "D" as follows.

「D-G-C-F-A-D-G-C」

Next to each string, a string one octave lower is also strung (the two high notes G and C are strung with strings of the same pitch). The pitch of each string is 4 degrees apart, but only the F-A section is spaced 3 degrees apart, which is the same as the spacing between the notes of the 3-2 string combination (G-B) of a normal guitar. In other words, in the case of this guitar, it can be said that two strings (four strings in total, two each) have been added to the high side of a normal guitar. And from a normal guitar, the whole thing seems to be tuned one note lower.

The tuning of each guitar is basically a combination of "strings with different octave pitches" or "strings of the same note" in this way to obtain a rich sound, but according to the information on Kevin's website, the combination of pitches seems to be tried and tested in various ways even with the same guitar.
(If you are interested, please check the website.

The site also provides detailed records of the types of strings, including whether the type of string is plain or wounded, and whether the material is bronze or nickel. There are also reports on subtle differences such as "bronze has a slightly darker tone than nickel" and "nickel reacts faster to the sound to be produced", and it seems that they are exploring them every day to find the best combination.

Each song on this album is centered on improvisational performances. I feel that the guitar sound has a lot of fourth-degree harmonies overall, but perhaps because of that, the overall atmosphere continues to be unstable. These harmonies have a pleasant sound full of overtones unique to a guitar that is different from a piano. If you let yourself be immersed in these sounds for a long time, you will be filled with a strange sensation as if each sound seeps into your body, as if you are filled with a floating sensation and your body is melting into it. The interaction with Bruno Råberg on bass is also very dramatic, and if you listen to it after knowing Kevin's attention to the reaction speed of the guitar sound as mentioned above, you can see the fun of this kind of improvisational exchange again from a different angle. It's a very exciting and fascinating album."

- JazzTokyo magazine (JAPAN)
July 2024

KEVIN KASTNING and BRUNO RÅBERG – SILENT DIMENSIONS (Greydisc Records) (2024)

"I have reviewed Kevin Kastning’s music before on DISS. On this Kevin plays contra and subcontra guitars with 16, 24 and 36 strings. In case you are wondering this is an instrument of his own invention, and he studied at Berklee College of Music and was a student of PAT METHENY. Double bassist Bruno is a Swedish musician and band leader.

It all sounds very technical, doesn’t it? But some intriguing sounds are produced and for students of guitar in particular this will be a fascinating listen. It is not all about virtuosity and invention as ‘Transfigure Vanish 1’ shows: a haunting, repetitive bassline and interesting use of percussion (tapped bass I think) accompanying the ascending guitar notes in an atmospheric and beguiling piece."

- dimensions in sound and space (SCOTLAND)
July 2024

Kevin Kastning / Bruno Råberg — Silent Dimensions
(Greydisc GDR3588, 2024, CD)

by Peter Thelen

"One need look no further than the title of the opening track, “The Constitution of Silence,” in order to get a clue regarding how this latest Kevin Kastning collaboration with Swedish double bassist Bruno Råberg will unfold. As with most of Kastning’s previous efforts, the eight pieces herein seem to be loose and improvisational, though well thought out in advance, as Räberg knows precisely what note to play in order to accentuate and anticipate the motion and direction of Kastning’s next move — whether he is playing his 36-string double-neck Contraguitar or something more simple like a 16-, 24-, or 28-string Subcontraguitar, Kastning is a master of all of them and makes playing them sound effortless, which it most certainly is not. Råberg sticks to his one instrument, whether plucked or bowed, he also is a master of his craft. Throughout, the duo plays in a gentle and precise way that often hints of jazz but simply cannot be tied down to any single idiom, instead wandering freely across the vast musical spectrum, going anywhere and everywhere that two musicians of this caliber might find themselves from one moment to the next.

The two-part “Transfigure Vanish” makes an immersive deep dive into a soft and dreamy otherworld guiding the listener along as it proceeds, with some percussive elements creating a soft cadence during the first part, while the second part follows at a more brisk but complimentary pace. Barely a minute in length, “Aniline I” launches with a beautiful bowed bass melody, while Kastning’s jangly guitars play counterpoint. “Memory Present Echo” churns along somewhat randomly, keeping the listener wondering where things are going from one measure to the next. The album’s longest track is the appropriately titled “Light Still and Moving,” a piece that drifts along tastefully through a number of different ideas as it proceeds. The gentle nature of the album as a whole gives it a bit of an ambient feel that calms without making a listener sleepy."

- Exposé Magazine (US)
August 2024

Kevin Kastning & Bruno Raaberg - 2024 - Silent Dimensions
October 21, 2024
(32:43; Greydisc)

"I have long been a fan of Kevin Kastning and his incredible mastery of massively stringed guitars (here he plays 36-string Double Contraguitar, 16-string Subcontraguitar, 24-string Subcontraguitar, and 28-string Contraguitar), but also what makes his music so interesting is the way he continues to find different musicians to improvise with. Here we have his first work (although it will not be the last) with double bassist Bruno Råberg, a Swedish musician who has been living in the States for more than 40 years and is a teacher at both the Berklee Global Jazz Institute and at Berklee College of Music. He has also recorded 12 albums as band leader and another 30 as a sideman, so he has quite a reputation, and deservedly so.

Bruno has a wonderful tone, and there are times (such as “Memory Present Echo”) where Kevin sits back and waits for the right moment to come in and add his nuances. There are times when so many strings sound less like a guitar and more like a harpsichord or harp, and the frequencies being produced are very different to that of the bass, so it is intriguing to hear how they combine. Bruno is a master of sliding, and if I didn’t know better I would say he was bending the strings to get the results as he switches between notes. He is generally less staccato than Kevin, which means we get mixing and matching between styles, with Kevin often far more frantic across the neck and Bruno being far more languorous in style.

The result is one of the most intriguing albums I have ever heard from Kevin, as the two very different styles work together incredibly well, making for a compelling listening and if you have never come across any of his albums prior to this then this is the perfect introduction."

- Progressor Magazine (UZBEKISTAN)
Kev Rowland, October 2024