There are deep sounds near to the earth. The sounds that surround you while standing or walking or running or resting. The sounds that shake along your body. These are the sounds in which Gahlord Dewald specializes on double bass, electric bass, modular electronics, and just about anything else he can get his hands on. 

He takes full advantage of the unique physical properties of sound, wood, wire, and waves to pull forth spectral sounds that are at first hidden but then revealed in gentle ripples of the air, the stippling shadows of the fundamental bass.

Gahlord constantly seeks out new observations and new perspectives for his music. As a result, his musical colleagues span broad musical territory: collaborating with experimental guitarist Sandy Ewen, playing modular synth in The Yes & with violist Leilehua Lanzilotti, double bass in a noise jazz trio with Greg Davis and JB Ledoux,  performing in duo settings with bass clarinetist and poet Toussaint St Negritude, percussionist Ravish Momin, improvisor Elliot Sharp, and mdrungam player Rajna Swaminathan. Dewald’s studies in classical and extended techniques has allowed him to work with new music groups such as Anne Decker’s TURNmusic, Melissa Grey and David Morneau’s l’Artiste Ordinaire, and Meerenai Shim’s A/B Duo, and String Orchestra of Brooklyn.

He also expands his musical palette by commissioning new works for the double bass. To date he has commissioned ten new works by composers including Alexandra Gardner, Jen Wang, Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti, Chrysanthe Tan, and Jessica Rudman. Each new work brings another dimension of sound and music.

He has shared his experience of sound with audiences at XFEST, The Tank Center for Sonic Arts, Pushing a Brain Uphill Noise Festival, Invisible Rail, New Music Gathering, Bonnie Kane’s Thursday Experiment, Thrive Music Series, and Waking Windows Music Festival among others.

In 2018, Dewald founded Community of Sound, an experimental music incubator. As part of this organization he’s been able to steadily release new recordings such as _Arousing//Fenestration_ (a work for no-input mixer), _100.100_ (a body of work focusing on specific sound experiments for double bass), and _New Function_ (a body of work exploring sound as texture via modular synthesis). Many of his live improvisations also find their way to release as well.

Dewald grew up on the High Plains of the United States before moving East in his 20s to pursue music at Marlboro College, where a block heater was not required. He has studied double bass with Salvatore Macchia, Petya Bagovska, Dr. Mark Morton, and Barre Phillips.