This album blew me away, and I had the honour of also hearing Alister do this live on stage. Being known mostly as improvising pianist, his Fender Rhodes ventures stand out to me, because it sounds quite otherworldly, and.. I admit that I love the sound of that vintage electric piano!

Here is what he wrote about it himself:

“I first owned a Fender Rhodes electric piano in the late 1970s. It was a Mark 1 model (wooden key action). I had a band with my younger brother and my best friend from school and this was my ‘portable’ gigging instrument that weighed ‘a ton,’ and only just fitted in our small car. (I eventually got smart and left the 15 kg lid at home.) I had one effects pedal, a Boss chorus. Sadly — due to the rise of synthesisers and electronic keyboard instruments — I sold this lovely instrument in the late 1980s to make room in the house when our daughter Alexandra was imminent.

Fortunately in 1990, I was able to buy a Mark II model (plastic keys). As time went by my approach to the instrument began to change as my interest grew in more broadly sonic forms of musical expression. The Rhodes became for me a place of exploration where any part of it was open for investigation as a sound source: albeit sometimes stubborn and resistant to any form of resonance! I used it in tandem with a growing selection of sound modifying guitar pedals and slowly began to settle into a collection of those and a sound area that I enjoyed delving into.

By 2014 I had begun to use the Rhodes in this way in performances and recordings. It is in paired back solo exploration that I find the strongest connection with the instrument.”

“The album opens up the famous and yet somehow mysterious Rhodes…and finds an orchestra inside.’ (Derek Walmsley, The WIRE)

“The Fender inches toward warped generator territory…subtly piercing scrapes of surprising harmonic complexity’. (Peter Margasak, Nowhere Street)

Tracks

1. Hungry Machine 00:45
2. Breath Formation 01:42
3. Meaning and Mechanics 06:34
4. Sounding for Sound 07:21
5. Delicate Industry 02:28
6. Metal Spectral 01:30
7. Cheery Buzzy 01:36
8. Tremble, Rattle 01:34
9. Bright Welcome 02:09
10. Interior Signal 02:11
11. Obscure Message 04:51
12. Middle Distance 03:29
13. Clang, Re-sound 01:40
14. Growl, Warble, Strike 05:50
15. Nest of Shimmers 03:37
16. Interfere and Vibrate 06:34
17. Tine Tones 01:25
18. Friend of Cheery Buzzy 05:25

Alister Spence – Fender Rhodes electric piano, preparations, effects pedals, percussion
Album recorded by Alister Spence October 2021, at home in Sydney.
Mixed by Tim Whitten April 2024, released 2025. Comes in a card sleeve, with insert.
Mastered by Lawrence English at Negative Space