Australian, Sydney-based pianist-composer Alister Spence used to play the Fender Rhodes electric piano in the late 1970s, and at that time, it was his  ‘portable’ gigging instrument. He returned to the keyboard instrument in 1990 (now the Mark II model) with an exploratory approach and as a sound source, using sound-modifying guitar pedals. By 2014, Spence began integrating the Fender Rhodes into his performances with the Sensaround trio, his duo with pianist Satoko Fujii, and the quartet Kira Kira.

Within Without is Spence’s debut solo Fender Rhodes album. Recorded during the COVID-19 isolation experience at Spence’s home in two sessions in October 2021, he removed the instrument’s lid and experimented with various preparations. He plugged contact mics and effects pedals into its bare body, added some percussive devices, and structured feedback loops. He created a three-dimensional, electroacoustic orchestral sound, far removed from the instrument’s familiar fusion-tinged sonic palette. Spence also took the cover photo of the album.

The eighteen short pieces uncover the vintage Fender Rhodes’ enigmatic, alternative sonic history. They sometimes sound like processing cryptic alien transmissions, at other times orchestral or percussive, and function as an infinite resonant sonic generator augmented by Spence’s ever-inventive bag of tricks. He offers a radical new sonic palette for the Fender Rhodes; one of the pieces is titled «Sounding for Sound», which is surprisingly engaging and cinematic. As Spence summarizes this adventurous journey: «Going into this space is always an endurance test: to listen, like crazy, and be patient and trusting; alert for curious connections and disturbances. But it’s such a joy to go there!»

Eyal Hareuveni

Alister Spence (Fender Rhodes electric piano, preparations, effects pedals, percussion)