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Dieter Spears — The Signal
(Bandcamp Wayfarer no #, 2025, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-06-04

The Signal Cover art

Dieter Spears has been a session player in Nashville for several decades as a bassist, keyboardist, engineer, and producer, though his fondness for 80s and 90s electronic music finally got the better of him and he began releasing solo recordings; as of this writing he has around nine albums out on the Wayfarer label, most solo and a few collaborations. With The Signal, he presents ten purely instrumental tracks in something of a homage to the 80s Berlin School style, music that would sit comfortably on the shelf next to recent Robert Schroeder releases, same period Klaus Schulze, or any of a number of releases on the Innovative Communications label. Featuring Spears on synthesizers, fretted and fretless bass, and drum programming, the album also features contributions on this track or that from Billy Denk (guitar), Byron Metcalf (percussion), Christopher Caouette (strings and orchestrations, piano), Sean O’Bryan Smith (fretless bass), and Perry Giedt (additional keyboards) though all of the compositions and most  of the performances are Spears’. The sprawling eight-minute title track opens the set with mysterious swirling sounds and cavernous echoes, almost as if there are some spoken found sounds hiding under a layer of gentle shimmering chaos, with blasts of pure sound punctuating the sonic fabric from time to time, the fog doesn’t clear until well past the five minute mark, when a simple, though cryptic melody carries the listener home on sweeping chords somewhat reminiscent of Mellotron. “Evervastness” features a beautiful piano figure alongside flowing synth melodies over Metcalf’s pounding frame drums, sounding much like something the late Vangelis could have come of with in his prime, straddling the line between electronic and symphonic progressive rock. “Dimensional Shift,” after a very experimental intro, settles into a brisk sequence driven groove that gathers steam as it approaches rock territory, while its follow-on “error202.0” is more of a programmed percussive workout that eventually finds its way to a gorgeous dreamy melodic elegance. The spacy opening of “Parsect” finds an eloquent shimmering groove that marries other-worldly electronics to a funky bottom end, while the appropriately titled closer “Lost to a Starry Sky” immerses the listener in beautiful washes of melodic color as it grows and bends, like cosmic light pillars. Lots of amazing sounds to be discovered herein.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Byron Metcalf, Dieter Spears

More info
http://wayfarermusicgroup.bandcamp.com/album/the-signal

 

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