Songs in Time of Plague

by Alex Lubet

supported by

	/

Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
6 panel wallet with one CD

Includes unlimited streaming of Songs in Time of Plague via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 1 day

$15 USD or more
Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Free pdf booklet included

Purchasable with gift card

$7 USD or more

1.	On the Seventh Hour 18:12	info	buy track
2.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Generation 02:59	info	buy track
3.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Go 02:06		buy track
4.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Moment 02:51		buy track
5.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Tide 02:19		buy track
6.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Occasion 02:04		buy track
7.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Stage 01:37		buy track
8.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Pace 02:33		buy track
9.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Span 02:18		buy track
10.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Present 01:57		buy track
11.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Shift 03:34		buy track
12.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Continuance 03:29		buy track
13.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Extent 02:21		buy track
14.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Space 02:32		buy track
15.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Juncture 02:12		buy track
16.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Lastingness 01:35		buy track
17.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Infinity 03:27		buy track
18.	Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague - Eternity 05:21		buy track

about

In these pandemic-limited times, Alex Lubet might not be the first musician to make music using solo instrument and studio artistry; but his approach may be one of the more original. Lifting dobro and dulcimer from their traditional roots, and employing playing techniques spurred on by physical challenges, Lubet’s work – perhaps uniquely – encompasses the worlds of Muddy Waters, musique concrete, and Morton Feldman.

The contemplative, transcendent album, Songs in Time of Plague, rages in isolation against the dying. Its two very different works, for very different instruments, are testaments to the power of “alone” and the resourcefulness found within.

On the Seventh Hour is an extended composition for resonator guitar (aka “National steel guitar” or “dobro”). Temporary disability due to surgery led Lubet to create most of the work for one-hand, using adaptive equipment. From limitation begat innovation: guitar became as much a percussion ensemble as a string instrument; sticks, beaters, and mallets joined a metal slide, a bass bow, and complex fingerings, sounding the guitar body, yielding a forest of timbral effects and pitches.

Seventeen Songs in Time of Plague is a multi-movement work for mountain (or Appalachian) dulcimer. Each section utilizes a different open-string tuning, starting low and raising one string with each successive “song.” The work is given structure by these seventeen tunings but the playing is all improvised: the folk scale of the dulcimer fretboard, and months of practice, give each song a distinctive character. No picks, hammers, capos, or other dulcimer paraphernalia were used. An epic-scale work for just three strings and two hands – yielding a surprising range of colors and textures – manifests the sense of “alone.” Solo but not lonely.

Born and raised in Chicago, Alex Lubet came to Minnesota in 1979, where he composes, plays many instruments, writes about (and beyond) music, and teaches. A composer who has written for many idioms and a veteran of several ensembles, he mostly performs solo, so the colors and silences can breathe. Veteran producers and engineers, Steve Barnett and Preston Smith, worked closely with him on realizing this studio album.

credits

released October 17, 2022

license

about

Alex Lubet Saint Paul, Minnesota

Born and raised in Chicago, Alex Lubet came to Minnesota in 1979, where he composes, plays many instruments, writes about (and beyond) music, and teaches. A composer who has written for many idioms and a veteran of several ensembles, he mostly performs solo, so the colors and silences can breathe. ... more

contact / help

Contact Alex Lubet

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Alex Lubet, you may also like:

Wagtail
by Julius Schwing

Tasmanian guitarist Julius Schwing embraces the visceral sounds of finger playing, incorporating them into his experimental guitar work. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 8, 2022
go to album
Head in the Clouds
by Headroom

Space rock jams get experimental and slightly evil with zoned out synths and wheezing guitar lines plus soft, sweet vocals. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 20, 2017
go to album
Gabbeh
by Unchained

A luxurious suite of daydreaming introspection full of soothing instrumental guitar from always-great label A Colourful Storm. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 29, 2024
go to album
brutalovechamp
by Brandon Seabrook's Epic Proportions (Pyroclastic Records)

The experimental guitarist's most laser-focused, melodic, and compact effort yet. Bandcamp Album of the Day May 31, 2023
go to album
SYMPOIESIS
by Erica Dawn Lyle

Prepare to have your mind melted by these 14 guitar-noise compositions featuring distortion-drenched riffs arranged in hypnotic patterns. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 24, 2023
go to album
montage
by kay echo

An introspective record that fuses post-rock, shoegaze and ambient synth patches into a seamless array of shimmering soundscapes. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 26, 2023
go to album
THE SUN IS A VIOLENT PLACE
by dagger moth

Magnificently haunting songs that are full of shadow and fog, Sara Ardizzoni’s imposing alto cutting a path through a thicket of guitar. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 15, 2022
go to album