Dustin Edge
Dustin Edge (born December 9, 1977) is an American singer/songwriter and musician.
Background
Edge grew up in Louisville, KY and played in a variety of local bands before graduating from Kentucky Country Day School in 1996. While at Davidson College in North Carolina, he formed the bluegrass band Cast Iron Filter and toured extensively before the group disbanded in 2005. In 2006 he moved to Prague, Czech Republic and soon began playing a weekly show in the cafe of a local hostel. After moving to New York City in 2008, he began a series of guest performances at local improv comedy shows in the East Village and the Lower East Side, including appearances at Gotham Comedy Club, The Living Theatre, and Under St. Mark's Theatre. His latest EP, Calm, was released on January 25, 2011. He now lives in Boulder, Colorado.
Discography
A Forest Through the Trees (2008)
The majority of the songs that appear on A Forest Through The Trees were written by Edge during the final months of Cast Iron Filter, a bluegrass and roots rock band he helped form while living in North Carolina in the early 2000s. After the band's dissolution, Edge approached producer Glenn Matullo at Orphan Studios in Atlanta with a set of demos at the suggestion of music manager Russell Carter, who had managed Cast Iron Filter for several years. Heralded by Indie-Music.com as “glorious pop/rock madness”, the songs on A Forest Through The Trees are “filled with driving rhythms and captivating melodies…rich layers of instrumentation within up-tempo, energetic compositions that appeal as much to hard rock aficionados as they do to devotees of indie pop and punk…an album that becomes strangely more complex as it progresses, showcasing [Edge’s] affinity for odd time signatures and experimentation, all the while presenting songs that contain intensely addictive qualities.” Joining Edge in the studio were Gerry Hansen on drums, Bret Hartley on lap steel guitar, Martin Kearns on keyboards, Chris Wagoner on violin, Mary Gaines on cello, ‘Element’ on background vocals, with Edge performing all other instruments.
By the Numbers (2010)
While living in Prague, Czech Republic Edge composed a vast series of electronic demos without titles, five of which would be ReWorked to appear on his 2010 EP, By The Numbers. Shortly after moving to New York City in late 2008, he began working with producer Brian Forbes at Gallery Recording Studios in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, reshaping the Prague demos into full-fledged recordings. On the recommendation of Forbes, Edge was accompanied in the studio by drummer Aaron Steele, bassist Dan Asher, keyboardist Sam Barsh, and guitarist Willie Gammell, with Forbes also recording electric guitar on several tracks. Laden with precision, the By The Numbers EP was lauded as having a “geek-cool sensibility, with Edge using mathematical and scientific concepts as allegories for life’s experiences.”
Calm (2011)
In the spring of 2010, Edge returned to the Gallery in Brooklyn, New York to record a new project with Brian Forbes from a series of acoustic demos written shortly before the release of By The Numbers. As with Edge’s previous sessions at the Gallery, Aaron Steele appears on drums, as does Dan Asher on bass guitar, with Forbes also on electric guitar. Nevertheless, as precise and methodical as were the performances on By The Numbers, the recordings from the Calm EP exhibit a complete shift in genre, echoing at times the roots rock Americana of Cast Iron Filter. In response to this transformation, Edge stated on Brooklyn blog Local Correspondents that, “I’m constantly trying to explore new approaches to songwriting that are different and improve upon what I’ve done in the past. Above all, I want to continually evolve as a songwriter and a performer.” A spring tour is planned to support the album’s release in early 2011.