“The sound of the acoustic bass coupled with thoughtful loops and medium tempos make this a really great, ambient and introspective feel.”

“Simon Little plays his bass at the cusp of organic and electronic. The emphasis is on the human element with warm tone, natural phrasing, and a bit of finger squeak. But Little peers over the edge, using looping and occasionally mixing in more heavily processed tones to challenge his listeners... the fluidity of the playing matches the elasticity of the pieces. Songs develop and find themselves far from where they began, but the transitions flow smoothly... Looping aficionados can analyze and appreciate Little's skill, but his evocative instrumental music transcends the technology.”

“Each piece on [un]plugged indicates how the improviser/composer can manipulate mood over time, and through a myriad of tiny, delicate, tapestries of sound, use the solo instrument to extraordinary end. Taken in its entirety, “[un]plugged” shows an artist who can deftly combine the modern technology of looping and electronic alchemy, yet somehow still manage to give the music an organic quality and an intimacy that can so very often be missing from the processed sound. Live looping with bass guitar can be heard to good effect on albums by such luminaries as Eberhard Weber, but on “[un]plugged” Simon Little shows how much he has to offer the discipline, and how much of his own character can be woven into his music. Each piece on the album is a journey, both in sound and sensation that can leave the listener staring into their very sentient being. There is much introspection within these tracks but there is always a place in everyone’s heart for music that can facilitate that o”

“The melodies are shapely, but eschew any overriding sense of direction, serving instead to articulate each mode, and to solidify its ambience into a more architectural atmosphere than a purely chordal approach could achieve. There’s still a fair bit of electro-trickery, most noticeably in the regular use of backwards loops, but on the whole it’s a layering of note choices, and a delicacy of phrasing that gives this album its substance; the attentive listener should not be distracted by the prominence of melody into searching for the sort of discursive or overtly expressionistic meanings found in music where improvisation is the point. Here it seems (to me at least) to be a means to an end, a contributing element in limpid, shimmering pools of modal harmony, that speak of sunlight, shade and water. This is music with an easy aesthetic, but a surprisingly complex surface, in which Little’s beautiful playing is always a prominent pleasure, never overbearing or dominating.”

"The Music of Change" kicks off the program with a very tight, funky groove which would not be out of place on an Isley Brothers record. Two tracks later, "Go Quietly Now..." does just that, bringing down the pace but not the passion—several lovely solo measures merit close attention. This is pretty much the pattern for the remainder of the set, with a mix of up-tempo riffs interspersed with searching, ambient excursions. Many of the tracks or individual passages thereof lend themselves to visual interpretation. Some of the melodies evoke a sense of Mike Post on psychedelics, and would perhaps be right at home as the theme of a '70s television police drama. Other moments conjure fractals, inner and outer space, and other abstractions

“Little presents a series of atmospheres, a selection of airs for us to inhale. They do not take us to extreme places: there is a tang of melancholy, but there is also a sense of purposeful movement. The experience of listening is highly rewarding, for the continual sonic transformations, and the ongoing flow of ideas, as well as for the moods he creates. The Knowledge Of Things To Come is the work of a thoughtful and very creative musician, and one who shows signs of development and growth with every new release.”

“Aside from his regular bass guitar duties, Simon is known as a forward thinking, progressive musician within experimental/improvisational music circles. The way the album was recorded both scares and excites me... Ambitious. Some would say brave. Others would say genius.”

“Full and complex orchestrations... there are fully muted percussive sounds, EBowed and plucked harmonics, upper register improvisations, chords and double stops, and a sophisticated palette of audio processing, adding up to a varied set of orchestrated textures across a wide range of frequencies... Although everything on this album is ear pleasing, and presents itself to the listener in an accessible manner, its far from being ‘smooth’. You can hear Little probing at the contours of his chosen musical landscape, exploring the possibilities and mapping the territory.”

“The electric bass is often maligned as a solo instrument. Little attempts to enhance its reputation with his new album Mandala, the entirety of which was recorded with only a six-string bass and loops. In an album full of ambient soundscapes, this track [sometimes it rains in august] is the strongest in its masterful use of chords, harmonics and slides.”

“Simon has lately been working intensively with live loops, a technique that he pretty much perfected in his new album, with incredible amounts of feeling, rhythm and sense of melody. Each sound, each note, every rhythmic phrase was created on the bass... The album shows many tonalities and sound facets of this unique instrument”

“He plays with so much creativity, so much passion, that his bassist parts are insane.”

“A solo bass guitar record improvised live that often sounds nothing like bass guitar, Simon Little‘s Mandala is enjoyable, highly listenable and varied both sonically and in terms of mood.”

“Brilliant album – really inspiring”

“There is a wonderful sense of space in the compositions, creating an ambience that listeners can easily get lost in”

“The debut solo album Mandala is now available at http://music.simonlittlebass.com”