Dismantlists began as a reprieve from my various frustrated rock experiments, and as a way to incorporate broader things I've always been into, like classical and experimental music, although this most certainly isn't the former and is probably barely the latter. The name Dismantlists is really just a pretentious play on the idea of "removing unnecessary stuff," and pluralized just to be even more ridiculous. It is also a very clumsy name, but here we are.

The music itself is almost entirely guitar, even when it doesn't sound like it. I enjoy challenging myself to invent the sound of "unidentifiable instruments" whenever possible. Compositions can range from simple lines to  - if I'm lucky - dense musical Möbius-strips, twisting around in evocative ways, using looping pedals, recording, or both. Clearly, I'm also a big fan of looping separate note sequences that recur at different intervals, creating random clusters and chords. If you haven't figured it out yet, a lot of this music happens by accident. To me, that's half the enjoyment.

Professionally, I've worked in public radio for over 30 years, and consider myself insanely lucky to have pulled that off. I had the pleasure of originating both the avant-garde showcase Present Tense at WNED-FM in Buffalo, NY, and Extra Eclectic at Minnesota Public Radio, where I suppose my affinity for the more austere side of contemporary classical music is a regular focus. I also helped launch MPR's popular music station The Current.

I've been playing with sound since I was a kid -- when my favorite toys were my various tape recorders. A home life steeped in classical music provided my earliest education, but my favorite "piece" in any classical concert was when the orchestra tuned at the beginning - and that never lasted long enough. A lifetime of interest in all things musically minimalist ensued.​

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My first record as Dismantlists, Here at the End, was released in 2018, followed by 2020's Pilgrims and 2026's forthcoming Evidence. 

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