Der britische Producer Andrew Ostler hat soeben ein neues Album mit dem simplen wie aussagekräftigen Titel “Four Drones for Saxophone and Modular Synthesizer” herausgebracht. Das Album enthält vier längere Stücke und zwei kürzere Zwischenspiele (Intraludes), in denen das meist dröhnende Fundament mit unterschiedlich stark verfremdeten Saxophonloops immer wieder untrennbare Einheiten bildet, um die beiden Komponenten dann wieder in unterschiedliche Richtungen auseinanderdriften zu lassen. Rhythmische Elemente kommen an einigen Stellen hinzu. Das Album erscheint als LP und auf allen gängigen Streamingdiensten bei Expert Sleepers.

“Late 2021, and lockdown has eased to the extent that it seems reasonable to organise gigs, albeit with some trepidation. After the big studio projects of “Crossing The Line” and “Rolling Like a Bullet”, this suggests a new approach for an album – a collection of tracks composed and rehearsed to be played live (at least in theory). To keep me honest, each performance destined for the album would be videoed and published on YouTube. Furthermore, in the interests of remaining a “mobile intelligent unit”, the setup should not involve too much gear – in particular, no laptop. For me, a modular synth has always been an adjunct to a computer, so it was useful discipline to come up with a modular system that could be the entire foundation of a performance, albeit supplemented by my saxophone and ever-growing pedalboard. As ever, these new needs provided invaluable feedback into Expert Sleepers product development.
During this time I was becoming increasingly interested in just intonation and related tunings, and the pieces here reflect that. The more I learn, the more I realise how entrenched equal temperament has been in my own education and subsequent thinking, and I can only presume the same applies to many, even most, others of my generation and culture. This, I believe, is a great shame. As I write, there are signs of cracks in the previously unassailable hegemony of 12 tone equal temperament, but there’s a long way to go. It’s a journey I look forward to taking.” (Andrew Ostler)