In Mind is a solo double bass EP by Tate EC (Tate Egon Chavez), a Los Angeles–based musician and cultural producer.
Rather than foregrounding virtuosity or maximalist effects, In Mind embraces the simplicity of sparse instrumental gestures and the silence surrounding them. Combining improvisation with 20th century minimalist processes, Chavez makes music that is simultaneously impressionistic and architectural, relishing in sound rather than technique. The resulting emotional register is quietly evocative, marked by gravity, patience, and a sense of hope that emerges through repetition. It asks the question, "where does our mind go when we're most at peace?", and answers with the sound of bow against string.
After five years of working as an arts organizer, In Mind, Chavez’s debut solo project, is an act of turning inwards. Simultaneously, In Mind is a project that is directly inspired by the ecosystem of artists that his work has served.
Growing up as a bassist, Chavez formally studied music at UC Berkeley and its Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT). He returned to Los Angeles after university in 2018 feeling burnt out by his childhood instrument, and didn't pick it back up for over three years. When he did, in the middle of the pandemic, it felt good to be back, but he wondered what the “point” was. He was no longer studying with a teacher, playing in an orchestra, or even in a small ensemble, as he had for most of his life. It wasn't until he found his way into LA's experimental music communities after the city reopened, specifically through Leaving Records' Listen to Music Outside in the Daylight Under a Tree and the solar powered outdoor gatherings of Living Earth, that his relationship with the instrument, and with making music, began to change. These series exposed him to new ways of performing and alternative perspectives on traditional instrumentation, inspiring him to reconsider his own relationship with the double bass.
Over the following years, he began experimenting with effects pedals and digital signal processing, performing in improvised ensembles and as a soloist everywhere from the Central Garden at the Getty Center to the post-TSA side of LAX Terminal 7. All the while, he was working as an organizer; first as one of the stewards of Living Earth, then as Events Director at dublab, constantly observing, discovering, and engaging with contemporary musicians, peers, their ideas, and approaches.
Inspired by the minimal figures of CTM and the distortion-soaked lines of Oliver Coates, he began experimenting with using the double bass as a source for further sound design in Ableton, developing a method grounded in sound over technique, while taking arrangement qeues from minimalist composers such as Philip Glass and Steve Reich. This approach birhted "II (Wings)", and it laid the foundation for more songs to come. Born only a day before the devastating fires in Altadena and the Palisades, the song was a source of personal respite, and it found a place on Leaving Records' Staying wildfire relief compilation.
Over the coming year, he recorded the rest of In Mind across three sporadic sessions, each remaining piece manifesting in one take. "II (Wings)" and "IIII" were recorded at his home in Los Angeles, while "I" and "III" were initially captured on the porch of a family cottage in Slovenia, a childhood home of sorts that he was visiting for the last time before it was sold. The songs came to hold their own personal resonance, milestones in a year of change and personal growth.
Inquiries
tate.egon.chavez (at) gmail.com
Credits
Music composed, performed, recorded, and produced by Tate EC
Mixed by Spencer Hartling
Mastered by Mike Nolte
Album artwork by Tate EC
Special thanks to Glasbena Šola Domžale
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