Weaving between self-built zithers, organ drones, clarinets, organs, acoustic guitars and drum machines, Blue Lake’s recent LP ‘Sun Arcs’ is an inventive and free spirited take on off-kilter folk.

Blue Lake is the moniker of Copenhagen based instrument-builder and multi-instrumentalist Jason Dungan. On 9 October, Blue Lake will be performing 2 sets featuring both solo and group music, from the recent Sun Arcs LP, as well as earlier records such as ‘Stikling’. The performance will feature Jason Dungan on acoustic guitar and hand-built 36-string zither, Carolyn Goodwin (clarinet and bass clarinet), Tomo Jacobson (bass) and Oliver Laumann (drums).

The recording process for ‘Sun Arcs’ saw Jason travel for a week alone to Andersabo, a cabin in the Swedish woods which is also the site of a residency project which has been run by Dungan since 2016, hosting artists like Sofie Birch, Johan Carøe and Ellen Arkbro. Whilst writing 1-2 pieces per day, a conscious decision was made to leave behind everyday distractions and shut out the outside world to instead focus on the natural passage of time as Dungan recalls:

“My only sense of time came from these daily walks out in the woods with my dog, and an awareness of the sun’s path as it moved across the sky each day.”

Central to Blue Lake’s music are series of self-built zithers, built after finding an old zither in a Swedish flea market. Dungan’s instruments are designed to have elements of the guitar, harp, and dulcimer, combined to allow for both intricate picking of notes, as well as sweeps of sound and tone clusters.

Dungan’s music takes a deep inspiration from Don Cherry’s live albums of the 1970s, as well as Peter Brotzmann and Han Bennink’s ‘Schwarzwaldfahrt’ LP, the guitar of John Fahey, and Ellen Fullman’s long string instrument. Blue Lake’s music is focused on the core beauty of minimal instrumentation creating a meeting between folk and jazz, allowing for tones and rhythms to repeat and spool out into new forms over time. The music on Sun Arcs ranges from live takes of solo performances on a single instrument, to complexly layered compositions where Dungan played every part. Blue Lake will play 2 sets which will explore both a solo (or near-solo) approach, and the potential of the full band.

“The recordings on Sun Arcs conjure a similarly intimate view, one that can feel both magical in its simplicity and all the more compelling for what’s just out of frame.” – Pitchfork, Best New Album

“On his latest outing as Blue Lake, Jason Dungan's pastoral instrumentals are boundless, shimmering like dappled sun on water” – The Quietus