A Journeyman, songwriter, bandleader and road warrior, Chris Kasper has been know as all these things but Bagbones is the first album Chris can be called both a producer and arranger. Chris has been on the road in some form or another for the past 12 years, traveling in and out of his home base of Philadelphia, PA playing his unique style of timeless music. After 4 solo albums, and 3 collaborative side-projects, Chris has emerged as one of the most compelling musicians and songwriters, period. With his most recent recording, Bagabones, Chris steps into the shoes of his musical heroes and stands up on his own to be recognized. Bagabones was written in West Hurley NY in Chris's late uncle's cabin, built right outside the town of Woodstock. The genesis of the recording began with Chris retreated to the cabin with some notebooks, a laptop and some fine spirits emerging with an album that taps into the spirit of Woodstock taking the sort of quite inspiration that Chris's heroes took from that place. When it came time to record, Chris's began to delve into the annals of recent music history to clarify his vision of what he wanted to construct. Finding the right producer is often known as finding the extra member of the band. A producer plays a key roll in the development and representation of the album and Chris knew this choice would be integral to the future of the recording. After several months of audio research, honing his musical vision, Chris realized that no one knew the feel he wanted for the album better than him. By surrounding himself with great engineers Chris saw his opening to produce a solid record. Enter Kawari studios and the artistry of engineer Mark Muir. Using quality vintage gear and some 'outside the box' recording techniques Matt sank right into Chris's vision. Aiming for a sound loosely channels Van Morrison, The Band, and Bob Dylan during their Woodstock years, Chris knew that whenever he may loose his grip musically, Matt and his band (members Phil D'Agostino, Daniel Bower and Kiley Ryan.) would be the right people to help reassure his direction. Chris's first conscious choice in the record was to minimalize use of cymbals and maximize space. His second conscious choice was to expand the rhythmic percussive element not just with drummer Daniel Bower building a drum set out of old drums, pieces of metal, broken tambourines and mallets but also with more strings and guitar arrangements. Influenced heavily by Beck's Sea Change and Ben Zietlins and Dan Romer soundtrack for Beast of the Southern Wild he saw an opportunity to use strings as a subtle but main force throughout the arrangements. Feeling predictable for being known as a songwriter of major key tonalities, Chris made a conscious decision to focus on the minor keys. While arranging strings with Kiley Ryan, Chris was sought out the talent of Tom Gilliam and J Davidson, Sonya Sophia to help with various instrumentation. During the recording process, Chris noticed a sense of musical communicative ease with his band (Phil D'Agosino - bass, Daniel Bower - percussion and Kiley Ryan - strings). It all felt very natural and the band did not need any direction once the songs were presented and they knew my thoughts on it. When it came time to mix, Chris engaged another Philadelphia legend, Jim Salamone. Bringing out what Matt had captured, Jim found the subtleties and made a world for them to live in, diving deep into the record after the first listen and he barley said another word until he was done. By the end of the process of mastering Chris had captured a moment of bittersweet emotion that comes from loss, heartbreak and rebirth, evoking feelings of music that is classic, timeless, and uniquely his.
