Kevin Kastning :: Rubicon I

Kevin Kastning, Mark Wingfield – Rubicon I (greydisc, 2021)

While Kevin Kastning and Mark Wingfield manipulate frequencies, layers of sounds and sonic meanings through the latest chapter of their collaboration entitled Rubicon I, a massive inquiry in abstract improvisation slowly emerges, a fertile ground for these two musicians to enact a multidimensional exploration of the depths of their collaboration. Two musicians so familiar each other with, creating worlds of intimate power via the only mean of free improvisation.

The Massachussets-based Kevin Kastning has delved into exploring the sonic possibilities of several custom made instruments, which expand the current possibilities of acoustic guitars with a ludicrous range of registers and strings (up to 36!). He uses them to apply a range of techniques spanning from Pat Metheny‘s Picasso guitar chordal tapping to hand-breaking counterpoints. Not a surprise he studied with Metheny himself and performed with belugrass and folk influenced masters like Michael Manring and Alex De Grassi. He has developed through these experiences a unique playing and tonal frequencies that are either fed by acoustic bluegrass guitar, free improvisation and atonal classical music. British guitarist Mark Wingfield can’t ask more for eploiting his trademark unerringly mysterious soundscapes and odd guitar sounds and apply his guitar midi gimmicks.

The opening Event Horizon sees Kastning at a 15-string classical guitar developing sparse and casual lines that Wingfield eventually charges with a crescendo soundscape. The atonal phrases the American guitarist delivers are constantly challenging any idea of rhythm and tonal coherence, until he loves to sit on a easy and capturing three-notes motif at the five minutes and half mark. The fellow answers this with an amazing, shimmering soundscape that is pivotal to one of the most enthralling moments of the track ninety seconds later, when Kastning ponders over a joyful arpeggio that sounds like walking on the clouds.

Born from a session in 2018, Rubicon I, which is the first chapter of two, definitively shows how the two have developed through multiple records a unique sound of their own. Exchaning registers in Comoving Distance, Kastning places a folk riff on the background and concentrates on the lower register with harsh tapping while Wingfield counterpoints that with howling and raging reveries on the higher register of his electric guitar.

Each of the two holds such a diverse background of influences, that it’s hard to disguise which genre they mix their atonal improvisation baseline with: The Lensing sees Kastning at the piano, starting with a Romantic-imbued, yet atonal cadence, that occasionally turns into a nocturne. Few seconds before the fourth minute mark, piano seems to hint a tonal cadence that Wingfield aptly mimicks and turns into an obsessive lead guitar ride. It’s just a momentary trajectory the two cross, until few seconds later they found themselves playing with quieter volumes and then again exploding in sudden bursts. The last minute finale is again an amazing moment that seems to coalesce all the previous tension in the closing electrical soundscape.

Rubicon I is a multi-layered exploration of possible leanings between two artists, where the free improvisation language is often more the surface and the real deal is listening to the depths of semiological explorations Kevin Kastning and Mark Wingfield unveil in their music.

Kevin Kastning: Piano, 36-string Double Contraguitar, 17-string Hybrid Classical guitar,
15-string Extended Classical guitar

Mark Wingfield: Electric guitar, live electronics (software processing)

by Kev Rowland

Over the years I have been fortunate enough to hear quite a few albums by Kevin Kastning, but they are always either solo or working with musicians I have not otherwise come across. However, here we find him collaborating with Mark Wingfield, another musician whose work I have been enjoying, so this is a first for me. Recorded at Studio Tramwauld in Massachusetts 16-17 August 2018, the day after Kevin and Mark performed live in New York City for WNYC radio, here we find two extraordinarily talented guys pushing music to new limits. Both Kevin (36-string double contraguitar, 17-string hybrid extended classical guitar, piano) and Mark (electric guitar, live electronics (software processing)) have reputations for working in improvisational and “free” music, and one would certainly not expect anything different when they combine their resources. The largest difference for me in this instance is the importance of delicate piano throughout, which often acts as a cornerstone for Mark to take the music in quite different directions. There is a certain amount of discord and disharmony within, yet there is also a fragile beauty with delicate notes being played with some force and power. There is a passion and emotion within this, very different to music which is carefully constructed and only in play when musicians have trust in their own ability and that of their partner to create something that is both ethereal and robust. Kevin always records his albums very quickly, capturing the time and essence before moving on, and that is the same here with it being fully recorded in just a few days. This is music designed to take the listener to another time and place, to join the musicians on a journey where even they have no idea of the final destination or the route they are going to follow on their travels.

- Progressor Magazine (UZBEKISTAN)
December 2021

Kevin Kastning / Mark Wingfield: Rubicon I

"Silence is a very underrated and powerful musical instrument. It takes a lot of effort, artistic taste and experience to interweave musical sounds, with silence in a captivating way. This is what the duet of two guitarists (Mark Wingfield and Kevin Kastning) aims to achieve. I am not familiar with the larger part of Wingfield's back catalogue, but I must say that I liked his fusion release Tales From The Dreaming City, where Mark shows his less-boundary-challenging side.

Minimalist music kind of implies minimalistic reviews, hence I will give no florid descriptions and verbose impressions this time, if you permit. The duet's music reminded me of the more experimental releases by Discipline Global Music and Terje Rypdal's solo career. The same sharp, chilly sound, that places itself outside the comfort zone for most of the sympho and metal prog lovers. The trick here is that Kevin Kastning plays instruments that you have probably never heard of before, including a 36-string double contra-guitar, 17-string Hybrid classical guitar and 15-string Extended classical guitar. Try to google the pictures of these juggernauts, and be awed. Anyway, here's what a daring listener should expect after pressing the play button.

First: an absence of atmosphere (which is also a special sort of atmosphere, if you agree).

Second: abstract harmonies, taken from the Scandinavian jazz tradition and put into freezer for a couple of weeks for extra effect.

Third: no rhythm section to provide the pulse. The music flows like space debris on outer orbits, eternally surrounded by vacuum.

It's safe to say that the result is not for everyone's ears. On the other hand, it is clear that the musicians were not driven by an idea to make something accepted by wide audiences. While I admire the experimental nature and the musicians' urge to find new means of expression, it is hard for me to rate the work. Hence I leave it unrated and recommend it to those fascinated by ambient, free jazz and sound design. If ambient is elevator music, this is the album to be played in the elevator from Pluto's landing pad, to an alien mothership."

- The Dutch Progressive Rock Pages (HOLLAND)
June 2021

"The prolific Kevin Kastning comes up with another new album, this time collaborating with Mark Wingfield, an equally talented and inventive UK based guitarist. Rubicon I has just been released, although it was recorded at Kevin’s Massachusetts studio in 2018, live in the studio and face to face, something that’s not been possible for the past year obviously. It is another absorbing and fascinating recording by two guitarists with quite different approaches who seem to complement each other’s playing almost telepathically. The compositions have been worked up live and are almost entirely improvised ‘in the moment’, each musician reacting to the other, the music evolving quite magically.

For much of the album, Mark Wingfield plays guitar which sounds anything but a guitar. He uses live software processing to create sounds which are often more orchestral in nature, or else sounding like synthesisers, but all the time the source of these strange sounds are his guitar. Kevin Kastning’s guitar playing against these soundscapes is quite different, recognisable as guitar, but no normal guitar of course. His self-designed multi-string guitars have such a range of sounds it’s hard to accept that they are being played on one instrument for each composition. For variation in sound and texture, Kastning also plays piano on two tracks, so the result is six pieces which all sound quite different, each having their own personality and structure whilst retaining a sense of belonging together.

Event Horizon eases us into this strange and beguiling sound world with a wash of spacey sounds from Wingfield against which Kastning’s 36-string contraguitar overlays some deep bass sounds, a wonderful organic and rich irregular pattern, ever changing and shifting as the soundscape evolves in tone and mood.

Comoving Distance features guitar squeaks and squeals from Wingfield that sound as though they have come from another world, possibly the world of the Clangers, with rushes of dancing and chattering electric notes reaching skywards, whilst Kastning produces bass rumblings and reverberating contraguitar seemingly plucked from the bowels of the universe. It is a conversation between contrasting elemental forces, and totally absorbing.

The following two pieces both feature Kastning on piano, which in many ways seems to lead the compositions forward initially. Having not heard Kevin’s piano pieces before, these are a revelation to me. His abstract sense of momentum and colour create vivid pictures which Wingfield complements with his processed guitarscapes and flurries of notes vying for the listener’s attention. The Lensing is particularly effective, with Kastning’s piano underpinning the exploratory guitar from Wingfield, the interweaving piano and guitar building and subsiding in waves.

On Loop Quantum, Kastning returns to his beloved 36-string contraguitar for a piece recorded at the end of the session. The ambient sound of heavy rain on the studio roof can be heard at the start, which almost scuppered the recording, but they decided to press on regardless. It was a good decision because the atmosphere of the piece is unique, with a vibrant energy present as both players feed off each other in turn. Long sustained notes play well against the ultra-low contraguitar notes, then energy builds, increasing in urgency, with Mark producing laughing guitar runs as they race towards a conclusion.

The final track is the magnum opus of this collection, a symphonic concerto almost, for processed electric guitar and 17-string classical guitar. At over 19-minutes, it is by far the longest piece, but conversely seems to slip by in half that time. Wingfield’s treated guitar hardly sounds like a guitar at all throughout this work, instead making sounds more akin to keys, synths and strings. This gives the track a very orchestral flavour, with echoing tones arcing through the air, whilst Kastning reacts to each changing tone on the 17-string guitar, adding harmonic textures to each evolving section of the piece. It mutates slowly and naturally leading to its satisfying conclusion.

So whilst this sort of abstract compositional style might not appeal to everyone, it cannot be denied that these two musicians are truly progressive in their pioneering quest to find new sound worlds, and this album proves to those willing to listen how accessible and rewarding their explorations can be. As usual, the sessions proved fruitful, and as the title suggests, there is another album in the can from these recordings, so that’s something to look forward to. In the meantime, I thoroughly recommend giving this wonderful collaboration a listen."

Kevin Kastning is a very prolific artist, only in the first months of this year three albums have already been released under his name, with different collaborators and, consequently, different connotations.
The union between Kevin Kastning and Mark Wingfield is now consolidated by several years of collaboration and musical experimentation in pairs that have given rise to a dozen records and this Rubicon I is a prelude to the short release of a second part of the project.
A project recorded even in 2018 and probably kept for a long time in order not to inflate the market, on which the two musicians are widely present even with different projects.
The disc in question, recorded at the Traumwald studio in Massachusetts, is the result of an introspective and very experimental work, with medium-length compositions, except for the mileage and conclusive Particle Horizon.
Kastning takes care of the piano here, but obviously does not renounce to embrace his guitars with their peculiar and very elaborate sounds, in particular in the opening track Event Horizon or in Loop Quantum where the partner's electric dialogues with the particular sounds of his seventeen strings. (!).
Obviously this is not a particularly digestible music given the attitude of both to experimentation and dissonance.
The American Kastning is also a sort of instrument inventor who develops the models he plays in his records and concerts, double-necked guitars, with resonant strings that allow to obtain timbres and sounds that vary from time to time to depending on the effects used and the desired performance.
The English Wingfield, on the other hand, despite having made his bones in the jazz-rock field, shares with Kastning the passion for a sort of contemporary classical music that is the basis of the compositions.
In this case, as we said, even though he is also present with his guitars, Kastning is particularly busy playing the piano here, leaving ample space for Wingfield's electric guitar. Each composition is a sort of soundscape in its own right, a bit in the wake of certain ECM publications, and it is therefore no coincidence that even the graphic concept of Rubicon I harks back rather blatantly to that of the Bavarian label publications.

Kevin Kastning & Mark Wingfield – Rubicon I (Greydisc, 2021) ****

Guitar and Guitar (and a little Piano). The album came with the following genre labels: Jazz, New Age, Ambient, Avant-garde, Progressive rock. Rubicon I, the 9th album of the duo of guitarists Kevin Kastning and Mark Wingfield fits – but never entirely – under all of these labels. Throughout the tracks, there is a gradual accumulation of intent and tension as layers of foundational ambiance build, while injections of clean, incisive lines of electric guitar cut and the buzz of acoustic guitar strings add texture. There are also the unusual timbres and tones to consider, as Kastning uses his self-invented 36-string Double Contraguitar and a 17-string Hybrid Extended classical guitar to contrast against Wingfield’s electric guitar and live-electronics. Together the two cover a wide swath of sonic territory that is sometimes familiar, sometimes treacherous (listen to the intro of ‘Comoving Distance,’ imagine yourself lost and floating between perceptual dimensions, it could get potentially pretty bewildering, no?) and generally fascinating. The tracks are very textural and fraught with possibilities – it seems at any moment something may develop. On ‘Dynamic Horizon’ an electronic ring can be heard throughout the track, while Kastning switches to the piano and provides a sparse melodic framework that Wingfield soars around with a frazzled guitar tone. ‘The Lensing’ continues with Kastning’s piano and works off a somewhat more traditional musical interaction – Kastning provides deliberative melodic statements and punctuating chords to Wingfield’s swooshing lines. The album ends with the 20 minute ‘Particle Horizon’, which finds Kastning back on guitar, likely the 36 string one. The track begins with atmospheric fill and a clean toned, staggered melody and expands patiently, layering in new sounds, but still keeping a threads of ideas stretching to a climatic moment three-quarters of the way through.

- Sound in Depth Magazine (US)
August 2021

"Rubicon 1 is a fantastic piece of art, really nicely done! I dig the electronic sound carpet, and everything else too, wow!"