A decade ago, the opening notes of trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær’s Khmer [ECM] heralded the arrival of another 6-string innovator, Eivind Aarset. Aarset’s guitar enters with the tone rolled all the way down, a wah cocked all the way back, and an EBow employed for infinite sustain, conjuring up a world of Middle-Eastern mystery where technology has been tamed by the ancient power of the desert. Since then, in his work on Molvær’s records, with oudist/vocalist Dhafer Youssef, and on his solo projects, the Norwegian guitarist has revealed that he is not just a master of the instrument, but a player for whom all the available technology is an equal part of that instrument.

“I think the way I work with electronics is like an extension of what all musicians do when they phrase or shape their sound,” he says. “It’s the combination of the traditional music building components—chords, structure, etc.—and a sound that makes the emotional impact I want. I like to go from something abstract—such as noise-oriented playing—merge that into more obvious musical structures, and then go back again. Sometimes, I take things the other way around, as well.”

Aarset’s electronics are a combination of analog and digital pedals, run through a Vox AC30 and a laptop. His guitar is custom built by Jan Braaten with a humbucker in the bridge, two single-coils, a Floyd Rose trem, and a piezo pickup mounted under the neck slot. This last feature can produce everything from banjo tones to harmonic overtones ripe for processing. The analog chain includes a Dunlop wah, a Boss OD-3, a Prescription Electronics Experience, a Pro Co Rat, and an Electro-Harmonix Micro Synthesizer. Perhaps the most important digital effect in Aarset’s arsenal is his Boss DD-5 delay pedal, which sits on a table for manual manipulation.

“When I use my DD-5, I always put the feedback to 100 percent, and the mix level to zero,” he says. “When I feel like it, I turn up the mix, and there is a random feedback loop going, consisting of whatever I did lately. Then, I use the delay time parameter to change pitch and to create mutated digital noise. This way of using the box is unfortunately not possible with the DD-6.”

The guitarist also captures melodic lines on the fly.

“I use the SooperLooper [a free plug-in available at essej.net/sooperlooper] as a replacement for my old, now-discontinued Electrix Repeater, which broke down. It’s really good, and I have only scratched the surface of the possibilities it gives me. I use it as a AU plug in inside Ableton Live, and I control it with my computer keyboard.”

Having begun like many guitarists—inspired by Hendrix, music school, and studio work—Aarset had his musical conceptions shaken up when he started working with pianist Bugge Wesseltoft.

“Bugge said, ‘I don’t want any solos. I don’t want any rhythm guitar.’ I thought, ‘Yeah, but that’s what I do,” laughs Aarset. “But it was really healthy, because I had to rethink my approach, and I started to create more with noise and sounds.”

Here, Aarset relates how that new approach to creating sounds evolved into driving some of the compositions from his latest record, Sonic Codex: “‘Drôbak Saray’ has some typical examples of how I work. First, I did some basic rhythmic programming in Ableton Live with the drummer. After we recorded the tune live in the studio with my trio— guitar, drums, and bass—I went through all the tracks and tried to create different layers and effects to make the sonic picture richer and more interesting. For instance, the strange synth-sounding guitar at 2:08 is an improvised thing where I play guitar with my left hand, and tweak the Bitrness control on my Alesis Bitrman using the FM algorithm.

“‘The Return of Black Noise & Murky Lambada’ is an 11-minute improvisation. I made it more composed by adding layers of effected guitars, kalimba, and melody. The melody line is my fretless guitar played with an EBow. The chords that come in at 1:47 go through a reverse loop on the DD-5, which I open and close manually by using a gate function on the Bitrman. Then, I run the signal into an Eventide Eclipse for harmonizing and delay. The choppy effect at 1:17 of ‘Sign of Seven’ is made by running the piezo output on my guitar through the DD-5 in combination with the bit reduction function of the Bitrman.

“For chordal pads, I like to use a combination of delays, rather than reverb. I might use a touch of the Boss DD-5, then about 500ms of analog-sounding delay from a Line 6 DL4 or a Roland Space Echo, and then I make a nice, wide stereo delay using either the Eventide Eclipse or the SoundToys EchoBoy plug-in. The feedback amount depends on the harmonic structure of the material I am working on. If there are a lot of musical modulations, for example, the sound will soon get messy if the feedback is set too high.”

Once everything is recorded into the computer, Aarset modifies sounds even further.

“The melody-line effect on ‘Cameo’ is the Apple Logic Bitcrusher plug-in, and I often use Logic’s Channel EQ, Compressor, Tape Delay, and Space Designer plug-ins, as well,” he reveals. “I use Reaktor 5 for the really electronic sounds. Basically, I am fooling around with things without really knowing what is going on. But if something interesting surfaces, I’ll bring the result into Live or Logic to make it play in a different context.

The final product of all this manipulation reflects the joy of guitar re-imagined. Though you will hear Aarset employ traditional tones from surf to metal, you will also hear sounds that have been digitized until they are only dimly recognizable as guitar—if at all. But the best part is that, like Les Paul, Jimi Hendrix, and Robert Fripp, Aarset has not let the technology diminish the instrument’s humanity. Instead, he has found the spirit in the machine.

A Selected Discography

Solo
Electronique Noire [Jazzland]
Light Extracts [Jazzland]
Sonic Codex [Jazzland]

With Nils Petter Molvær
Khmer [ECM]
Solid Ether [ECM]
An American Compilation [Thirsty Ear]

With Dhafer Youssef
Divine Shadows [Jazzland]

www.myspace.com/eivindaarset