OUTRI - When Ambience Met Tradition
Bass frequencies, whether played on a cello, double bass, synthesizer, or your classic bass guitar, are usually the root of all great pop records. It’s also vital in jazz and classical music, metal and virtually everything in between. But a new ambient project called OUTRI asks the question – what if the root of his music wasn’t just the bass frequencies, but in fact all the frequencies?
Ian ‘dodge’ Paterson with Imogen Bose-Ward.
Ok, so it might be more complex than that. But that was a good paragraph to open with.
OUTRI is the solo exploration of session bassist, educator and producer Ian ‘dodge’ Paterson. Based in the North-East of England, we previously wrote about dodge’s work with jazz group Slowlight Quartet in the summer of 2023. We also saw him perform as part of YVA’s band last year, both featuring a mixture of electric bass and Moog.
With a session discography stretching back almost twenty-five years, Ian Paterson operates predominantly from his home studio Wingroove. Having both studied and lectured at Sunderland University, dodge is classically trained in double bass, also teaching on the instrument and providing transcription services. But it isn’t all jazz and classical – dodge’s remote recording skills can also be heard in pop, folk, electronic and hip-hop tracks.
It’s all this education and versatility that lends itself well to OUTRI’s quietly melodic textures. ‘Nmbr_1’ was his debut single released in April 2024 and recorded live at Wingroove. This and his earlier ‘SOLO BASS INTRO’ would set a precedent for his music being created off-the-cuff and released without studio refinery. The sounds in these tracks could easily be the sparse musical landscapes of Slowdive’s ‘Pygmalion’, Nine Inch Nails’ latter ‘Ghosts’ volumes or an otherworldly Brian Eno record.
OUTRI played his first solo gig in July 2024 at the Hexham Bandstand, it was from this performance that his second single, ‘Inflection Point’ was taken. Paterson returned to a studio environment to record his third single, ‘DUCK #25’ at Blank Studios in Newcastle upon Tyne. In the music video for the piece, you can see how dodge uses and manipulates his speaking voice, adding an extra layer to his sound.
Towards the end of 2024, OUTRI compiled all these singles onto an EP cassette called ‘Subterranean Soliloquies’, previewing a fourth single on the tape called ‘Her Bright Smile’, featuring Imogen Bose-Ward.
‘It's been a year since last we met, we may never meet again. I have struggled to forget, but the struggle was in vain.’
With dodge having worked on Imogen Bose-Ward’s singles ‘Just Fine’, ‘Red Bricks’ and ‘Elton’, the chemistry between the two in ‘Her Bright Smile’ is such that you’d believe they were a fully formed musical duo. As with ‘DUCK #25’, this track was recorded live at Blank Studios. The great thing about OUTRI also filming these sessions is that you get to see how on top of his sound he is, always adjusting, adding a texture, clicking a pedal. Bose-Ward weaves the song through the timeless melody, OUTRI turning it into a production on the fly.
History says ‘Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still’ is a song with music written circa 1864 by W.T. Wrighton and the words by J.E. Carpenter, but honestly who actually knows when it predates recorded sound. The two artists balance this traditional song well. OUTRI’s soft five-string bass sound is the perfect accompaniment for Bose-Ward’s warm voice, but it’s her fiddle and his atmospheric stylings that pull the song in exciting opposing directions. The melody and its delivery are all the comforting familiarities of folk, while the electronic improvisational gadgetry from OUTRI makes you feel like a time traveler on a route to the 19th century.
‘And from sleep when I arise, her bright smile haunts me still.’
With remixes for ‘Her Bright Smile’, more collaborations planned and gigs going in the calendar, OUTRI is set to expand his horizons in 2025. We’re excited to see just how far those bass frequencies can go…
Continue reading for our Q&A with Ian Paterson. We ask about the genesis of the OUTRI project and its change of direction for ‘Her Bright Smile’, we talk about OUTRI’s first gig and the status of the Slowlight Quartet album. We also ask Imogen Bose-Ward about her involvement in the project and who suggested arranging a traditional song for this release. All this and more below!
1. 'Her Bright Smile' is your new single and the first with a featured vocalist. With the focus on ambient singles so far, what led to the change of direction for this one?
One of my (many!) ideas for OUTRI as a project was that it could provide me with a platform to work with other NE based musicians on intimate ‘one-off’ collaborations. This would allow me space to explore my varied musical influences and keep things a bit interesting :)
Having worked with Imogen on her material I was really keen to do more with her so this felt like the perfect opportunity. The next single after this is another duo, featuring an incredible NE based jazz singer, Ruth Lambert, which has a completely different vibe again. So I’m certainly scratching a lot of my musical itches!
2. One for Imogen, how did you get involved with the OUTRI project? Who suggested doing an arrangement of a traditional song for this recording?
I had been playing with Dodge for a few years on my own projects when he asked me for some ideas for traditional songs that would lend themselves well to contemporary arrangements. I sent through a couple of my favourites with some information on their backgrounds and he seemed to fall in love with Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still in the same way I had. We discussed his ideas a bit further and recorded some demos but then didn’t take it any further for a few years until he came up with OUTRI. I was so happy to be part of his project after all the input he had put into my music, not only in his fabulous bass playing, but production and arrangement skills too.
Although rearranging traditional music is not a new concept, I had never heard it be approached from the angle that he came from - not only blending electronic sounds with centuries old songs about love lost, but also weaving in experimental production approaches and reharmonisation.
We have had many chats about the nature of musical collaboration and creativity, bringing together styles and backgrounds and it all seemed to have amalgamated into OUTRI. It has been such a pleasure to watch it come to life from the periphery.
3. It's great to see this track in video form too. Ian, something you wouldn't know from just hearing the song - what are you speaking into your sampler?
The introductory pad that you hear is created from me singing a single note which is then processed through my bass FX to create that ethereal sound. Later on in the song I’m singing and sampling short fragments of the melody and again processing it / chopping it up live via the sampler / bass FX to build the crazy soundscape at the end of the track. I’m really keen for people to see the video so they can see how all these sounds are produced - one of the reasons I’m doing the videos live like this.
4. OUTRI is quite an unconventional project, what kickstarted it?
Great question! It all happened very organically from a number of different elements slowly converging. Firstly I realised that original music was where a lot of my passion for playing lies and alongside that the musicians that I really admire, in whatever genre, are the ones who are just doing their own original material, come what may, and ploughing their own path. Secondly I’ve done so much work as a side person for other musicians which often requires you to play to other peoples requirements and maybe ‘tone down’ your playing bit that I wanted space to see what my own musical voice was. And lastly with a family and small kids, finding time to rehearse and write with other musicians is really tricky, so on a purely practical level only needing to find time for myself to practice / write makes it very easy to make quick progress! The use of vocals alongside the bass has just occurred organically as well. I’m not a singer but being able to sample and manipulate my voice in real time just felt like a cool thing to add into the mix so I started doing it and haven’t looked back. I’ve recently added a drum machine to the live setup so I’m looking forward to exploring that side of things more in the coming months.
5. Your second single, 'Inflection Point' was recorded live at your debut gig as OUTRI. Was it nerve-racking to bring this project to an audience? Tell me more about that first gig.
I needed a hard deadline to force me to finish some material and work towards performing my first live set as OUTRI. Slowlight Quartet had a rare live gig last summer so I asked them if they’d be prepared to let me do a 30min support slot. And they agreed. It was definitely nerve wracking in the lead up as I’ve never performed solo before, let alone all my own material. But actually once I started playing it all just came together really well, which I was chuffed about. Despite the fact it was raining (outdoor summer gigs in the UK!) I got loads of very positive feedback from punters at the gig. I recorded the gig and was so pleased with Inflection Point that I thought I’d release it as a single.
6. Will there be more OUTRI gigs?
Absolutely! I’m putting on a gig in February which is three solo bass players from the NE each doing a 30 min set to showcase their approach to using the bass on its own. I can’t wait! After that I’ve got a few more gigs in the diary and plans for some gigs in ‘interesting’ spaces if I can pull it off.
OUTRI Live at the Central Bar, Gateshead (29/11/2024). Image Credit: Ken Drew.
7. I can't begin to understand how you get all these sounds from a bass guitar. How do you produce that sound?
In short, a lot of different FX! But that kind of belies all the experimentation and messing on that goes into creating the sounds and making it all work together in a musical way!
8. We loved covering some of your work with Slowlight Quartet in 2023, what's the status of the album the four of you were making that year?
Thank you. I absolutely love that band and the music we produce when we get together. We’re just trying to finish up the mixing of the last few tracks so we can release it all. We’ve also since recorded another four track EP (featuring YVA) so we’re sitting on a lot of material right now!
9. It was great to see you performing with YVA back in November, what are rehearsals like for a gig like that? Does it come together pretty quickly?
Thanks, it was great fun. Well, it was a very quick rehearsal turn around as we’re not all based in the NE. We had about 12 hrs to rehearsal it all up and get it ready to gig. We’d recorded the album the previous year so the parts were there but we’d never played it all live / together at the same time. Fortunately everybody had done their homework so we got it all together in time.
10. You released some of your new music onto a limited cassette EP late last year called 'Subterranean Soliloquies', is there more music to come? Could this EP see a wider release?
There is :) I’m hoping to release another three or four singles over 2025 and build up additional songs for a second EP release. All those tracks on the first EP are available online so the tape EP is for the super fans! I just really wanted to release my first ever solo material on tape so I did!
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Purchase the music of OUTRI (and Slowlight Quartet!) on the Jazz Sound Records Bandcamp page.
Find out more about Ian Paterson and OUTRI on his official website.
Follow Ian ‘dodge’ Paterson on Instagram and Facebook @dodgebass.
Follow the music of OUTRI on Instagram @outri__bass.
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