Chas Smith - Three (2021) Hi-Res

Composed in 2020–21, each work on Chas Smith’s album "Three" (Distance, The Replicant, and The End of Cognizance) is an ever-evolving single gesture, a seamless blend of tones and timbres from his metal sound sculptures (instruments with such names as Que Lastas, Bertoia, Lockheed, Towers, Sceptre, Parabaloid) and his homemade steel guitars (Guitarzilla, Jr. Blue, bass steel), all performed by the composer.

Composer–performer–instrument builder Chas Smith is a musician who has created his own unique musical world (in the spirit of Harry Partch)—complete with its own instruments—a world of expansive musical tapestries, carefully woven textures, that evolve via slow, constant processes of change. Smith has been heard playing his personally designed instruments on film scores by Thomas Newman, Charlie Clouser, Mark Mothersbaugh, Jeff Danna, Hans Zimmer, and others. His steel guitar playing has been featured on recordings by composers Harold Budd, Rick Cox, and others. He has performed his own works at new music festivals and art galleries in the US and Europe. His music has appeared on nine previous Cold Blue albums, and he may be heard on such labels as Varèse Saraband, Decca, Koch, Sony, Rastascan, All Saints, Cantil, and others.