Chas Smith

Chas Smith (1948–2024) was a composer, performer, and instrument designer and builder
who, in the spirit of Harry Partch, created music for instruments of his own design. His
compositions displayed his dual fascination with the scientific and the sensual (a musical
personality that perhaps owed something to the diverse composers he studied with in the
1970s—Morton Subotnick, James Tenney, and Harold Budd). As a performer, Smith played both
pedal steel guitar and his personally designed and built metal instruments on film scores by
Hans Zimmer, Thomas Newman, Christopher Young, Charlie Clouser, and others. His steel guitar
playing has also been featured on recordings by Harold Budd and others. Smith’s music has
appeared on ten Cold Blue albums.

“Chas Smith crafts . . . an oneiric montage of metallic tones and floating haloes, sonically
chilly and alien yet with a strange otherworldly allure reminiscent of paintings by surrealist Yves Tanguy.” (The Wire) “Smith’s pieces are music of experiment and discovery: a way of enabling the physical world to ‘speak.’ . . . Smith’s articulately structured music captivates from the start.” (International Record Review)
“Chas Smith . . . as evocative and quintessentially American as a crackling neon light outside a desert motel at sunset.” (Paris Transatlantic)
“Distant chimes ring out, metallic reverberations fade and reappear, speakers shake and
tremble, and my daughter asks what on earth I am listening to. This is music to be immersed in, soundscapes which bewitch and disturb but ultimately seduce and embrace as you reach for
the repeat button and hope this music will never end.” (International Times)