Spotlight Floodlight

Stories is the new album by Spotlight Floodlight (Los Angeles based keyboardist /modular synthesist Peter Adams). It was recorded on an evening at Stories Books & Cafe in Echo Park, Los Angeles, and captures both the spirit of sound exploration and a culmination of experimentation to find connection in the music. Peter strives to express emotion, grasping at the ineffable, that which can’t be put easily into words, if ever. This emotive quality is evident in this recording. There is movement, deep vibration and a sense of reaching towards something larger throughout. The improvisation, born from a deep knowledge of his synthesizers and years of practice in music, takes the listener through a connective thread of sound in which many varieties of feelings emerge. Los Angeles has experienced heartbreak over the last few years, with rising fascism, and environmental disaster, the air is often heavy in the community, and there is little idea of how to move forward. Peter’s music, expressed in these moments of time, offers not only solace but a way forward through experimentation. We have music, and the connection it brings, to usher us along. 

A  few years ago, friendless, new in town and seeking some sort of connection, I read a post about a modular synthesizer performance at Stories Books & Cafe. Freshly living in Echo Park, Stories was the most inviting third space I could go and just sit and read or write for a while with a drink from the cafe. They host an array of back patio events throughout the week, from comedy shows, to poetry readings, and Peter’s performance piqued my interest. 

Modular synthesis is multivaried. You never know what you are going to get when someone says they are going to perform it. What is their modular rack set up like? Do they use built in oscillators or samplers? Granular synthesis or subtractive? Post-pandemic, an explosion of home enthusiasts on the internet bought eurorack set ups that they didn’t quite know how to handle, flooding Youtube with performances that bordered on shrieking and thick mud sounds. So it was with some hesitation that I sat down on the back patio to watch Peter play. 

Luckily, for me and everyone else that has the opportunity to see Peter perform, he is a musician. Having toured extensively as a professional throughout the world, his understanding of both performance and music itself lends itself to the ability to wrangle pleasurable sounds out of the sometimes unwieldy instrument that is eurorack. 

I was instantly transfixed as I watched him play. Improvisation, based on understanding one's instrumentation and experience is one of the most satisfying types of performances to watch. Each time is different, and each time you are getting a whole new experience of sound and exploration. In a world with commodified music at the touch of a button, an improvised set is an inspiring alternative.

As he performed two sets of deep and moody environmental music, I let myself drift along with my journal, sketching out notes and ideas for different fiction pieces and poems. There is something about the style of music, the journey and the movement of it, that lends itself to artistic thought. I found myself feeling better about my unknown future, about my plans and ideas, as the music filled the back patio of other readers, thinkers and listeners, connected in the moment. 

Eric Buechel Los Angeles 4/26

photos by Kaitlin Maxwell