Twice the man he was

>> Solitary musical genius Dosh
is a one-man band no more

LOOPS AND TROOPS: Dosh

by SCOTT C

Anticon recording artist Martin Dosh is used to sitting on a swivel stool flanked with drums, a Fender Rhodes keyboard, a few pots and pans and an array of looping pedals. This leading name in one-man-bands is a tour de force alone, but now tours with partner Mike Lewis to explore the wider musical world found on Dosh’s latest, Wolves and Wishes. The Mirror spoke to Dosh over the phone from his home in California.

Mirror: You’re one of the guys who really cemented the idea of a one-man band in people’s heads. What made you decide to embrace a more collaborative approach on your latest record?

Martin Dosh: It was kind of a desire to hear textures I really couldn’t create myself. I’m not really a good guitar player so I recruited guys who could do that. I can’t play violin or saxophone either, and I can’t sing like Andrew Bird. Not that what I’m doing on my own is getting tired, but I wanted to extend the sonic palette.

M: When was the first time the whole idea of a one-man band made sense to you, and was it clear as a bell?

MD: That’s a really good question. It was probably the very first show that I ever did, wondering how it was gonna go. It was really fun, and the kind of experience where I thought I was on to something and just stuck to it. I’ve really worked on it over the years.

M: How much of a given show do you leave up to random, experimental chance?

MD: Back in the beginning, the songs were a little more repetitious and my sense of arrangement wasn’t as good, and I didn’t really know how to use multiple loop pedals, so in the early days, I winged it a lot. I still love to compose stuff from scratch, but touring with Mike, it’s a two-man band. I’m still in my own little universe making loops in the headphones, and Mike is reacting to them, playing with them and occasionally making his own loops too.

With Anathallo at la Sala Rossa on
Wednesday, May 21, 9 p.m., $12