Continuum is a series of solo fretless banjo improvisations from Los Angeles–based experimentalist Kelby Clark, unfolding through free-form raga structures and long, unprocessed takes. The result is a deeply focused, quietly hypnotic listen. It’s meditative without ever settling into stillness.
The cassette arrives as an object in its own right: an exquisite, limited-edition letterpress collaboration with Victorian press artisans Ink & Paper London, where the physical form mirrors the music’s patience, texture, and craft.
Kelby says this about the LP:
“These improvisations explore a right-hand approach that is inspired by tanbur, guqin, and flamenco guitar rasgueado techniques – played with free rhythm, making use of the instrument’s droning open strings. Old-time banjo tunings and raga frameworks formed the harmonic and melodic basis of these improvisations. These tracks were one-take recordings with no overdubs or effects.”
Kelby recorded Continuum at home in Los Angeles over the course of August 2024, performing everything himself on a five-string banjo. The setting feels integral — intimate, unfiltered, and close enough to catch the grain of each note as it unfolds.
Across six tracks, the record explores the banjo as something far removed from its traditional frame, stretching into patient, exploratory forms.
The opener, “Nataraja,” sets the tone: a rapid, cascading performance that unfolds over nearly three minutes, transforming the instrument into something fluid and otherworldly, more akin to a drone-driven meditation than a folk-rooted piece.
“Last Train Leaving Town” moves through a similar terrain, though it feels even more unbound. Kelby’s approach is difficult to pin down. It’s a kind of searching, as if he’s squeezing sound from the instrument and testing its limits. Notes arrive in uneven clusters, giving the piece a restless quality. It shouldn’t quite cohere, but that tension is exactly what makes it so compelling to sit with.
On “The Primordial Waters,” Kelby’s playing softens somewhat, but it is no less experimental. He’s plucking strings now instead of attacking the banjo. He still strums quickly, though, at a pace that’s enough to make you dizzy.
“The Reflecting Ether” takes a similar approach, and it’s really quite amazing to hear the frenzy and think it’s coming from just one person. The final two tracks – “Pralaya” and “Empryean” – follow along the same style.
One thing to note about Continuum is that Kelby opens with a feverish take on the banjo and sustains that intensity throughout. Similar to Johnny Bell, he unmoors the instrument from its traditional roots, offering something you likely haven’t heard from the banjo before.
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