THE OTHER SIDE

The Other Side is a lamellaphone, a kalimba-like instrument, with this special feature: Each tine is made of a steel rod which extends through the bridge and out the back side, with the segments on both front and back tuned to the same pitch. When you pluck the segments on the playing side, this naturally sets up sympathetic vibrations on the unplayed side. Magnetic pickups positioned under the unplayed side pick up the sympathetic vibrations, so the tone you hear through the amplifier is not the original plucked tone, but the sound of the sympathetic vibration alone. The tone is hard to describe – veiled, yet luminous.