Karl Clews Releases “Dissident”

Karl Clews: DissidentKarl Clews has released Dissident, a new album of original music created almost entirely on his four-string bass. Clews has made several solo bass covers over the years, but his use of the style for his own music is a recent development.

“I’ve always written songs and instrumentals and performed them with a variety of different bands over the years,” he explains. “However, in the course of working on my solo bass arrangements of other artists’ material, it slowly dawned on me that with all I had learnt in doing that, I could probably write and record using just the bass, and even perform solo – no other instruments needed! I’ve also always found it beneficial, from a creative point of view, to set restrictions on myself when writing and recording – to limit my options, in effect – as a way of avoiding the paralysis and writer’s block that can set in when you have too many choices! So I set myself the goal of writing and recording original tracks every couple of weeks and working them into my YouTube release schedule. This album is effectively a compilation of the best of those original tracks over the last two years.”

Dissident is comprised of short funky tunes, elaborate fusion jams, and melancholic ballads. Clews is joined by drummer Richie Dittrich on three tracks including the opener “Patterns”:

Dissident is available now via BandCamp.

Dissident Track List:

  1. Patterns
  2. Les Sirènes de Queneau
  3. Switchblade
  4. Étude
  5. A Dream of Endless Longing
  6. Juggernaut
  7. Satori
  8. On Moonlit Seas
  9. Psychobabble
  10. Las Olas
  11. Spiral
  12. Creeper
  13. Walk Lightly
  14. Something Beautiful (Instrumental Version)
  15. A Peaceful Storm

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  1. MikeyM.

    I dig this li’l diddy of a bass tune. Pretty Cool.