From Performer to Programmer: Evolving Roles in Contemporary Guitar Practice

The interchanging roles of the electric guitarist, the instrumentalist, the performer, the sound designer, the producer, and the session player are challenging authenticity in popular music practice. As practicing artistic researchers and performing electric guitarists, Charlotte Hatherley (Bat for Lashes, Birdy, Ash) and Laura Lee (Enid, Parachute for Gordo) explore their creative processes through studio and recording techniques in their live performances. They explore “post” musicianship within the conceptual binaries of live (immediate) to recorded (reflective), the studio (edited) to stage (performed), and analogue to digital, through the creative use of technology.