Natural Equations (solo guitar) by Kevin Miller, Ramble Records, 2023

Elements of improvisation and composition combined in some possibly unusual way

Kevin Miller Music (kevinmillerguitar.com)

This release represents Miller’s attempt to create fifteen solo guitar miniatures using a guitar plugged directly into a virtual recording setup. The parameter of the virtual recording setup was very psychologically challenging at first since it doesn’t offer any aspects of space and psychoacoustics, a part of solo playing very fruitful and inspiring.

Fixating on this allowed me to ease into a mindset where I could focus exclusively on how the pure content of the music relates to the timbre of my touch. This directness in recording setup also allowed for certain overdub scenarios that may have resulted in undesirably murky results without said directness.

Almost all of the pieces combine elements of improvisation and composition in some possibly unusual way; composition in this context meaning anything that was set in place or decided on before hitting record.

Each piece is generated from the same core sound nucleus, and this nucleus is simply being highlighted or emphasized in different ways on different pieces. This recording represents as much of the variety the guitar can offer to all its listeners.