Dave Mackay Dives Into Electronics on ‘The Looking Chamber’

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many artists who were accustomed to recording and touring with fellow musicians to isolate themselves and find new ways to create. Dave McKay, a keyboard player whose credits include stints with… Leon Bridges, Joni Mitchell, Annie Lennoxand Rufus WainwrightHe was afflicted – as was the case with many – by the “total paralysis” he felt due to staying in one place for a long time, according to the press notes for his new album, Looking room. “The need to stay connected to something during that difficult period prompted me to start seriously exploring the sound of electronic music,” he explained. “Unable to create with other musicians in the room, I began to experiment with sound waves in their purest form, using synthesizers as my medium.”

A connection with Pete Maine and his studio, Lucy’s Meat Market, in Los Angeles, led to this new record, which McKay and Maine co-produced. This is McKay’s first album with an outside producer and his first electronic music album. He said the studio’s rare arsenal of synths was a particularly fruitful source of inspiration, allowing MacKay to undertake this project and find “calm amidst the chaos of humanity in the age of artificial communication.”

The opening track, “Here in the Wide,” delivers the kind of staccato pulse and sustained notes one would expect from cutting-edge synth masters like Floating points and Competing consoles. There are quiet moments, some oddities, 80s keyboard washes, and explosions of reassuring melodic shapes.

Scattered throughout Looking room It’s a collection of short interludes that are shorter than the other songs and also largely unconnected with any beats or rhythm: “The Gravity of Love”, “Liberosis” and the title track are all strange miniatures that sound like the result of improvisation. They provide a fun alternative to the intensity of fuller compositions.

While McKay performs almost everything heard Looking roomsome guests visited the album, which adds a greater dimension to the album. Saxophonist Josh Johnson appears on “Trust Goddess” and “Exit Strategies,” allowing the songs to have a sort of interstellar jazz vibe (and reminiscent of Johnson’s most recent solo album, Unusual object). Likewise, Tamir Barzilai’s percussion on “Here in the Wide” and “Through the Veil” adds an interesting organic element to the drum’s synthetic pulse.

While the record has a definite dance-related element, evident in tracks like the urgent “Dream Circuits” and the subtle but propulsive “Forever Alone Together,” the overall mood seems to be one of reflection. “Gloam,” the closer, could be classified as one of those aforementioned “interlude” tracks, but when placed where it is, it’s almost like an end-credit sequence to an album full of quiet contemplation and design: the strings are sparse and elegant and the electronics are warm and modern.

Looking room It is named after psychologist Robert Fantz’s famous 1961 experiment, which challenged the long-held belief that newborns perceive a chaotic, meaningless world. That innocence and wonder is here, and Dave McKay has translated that frame of mind into beautiful music.