“Dig Deep” is the more up-tempo of Bend musician Pete Kartsounes’ two new albums, both of which dropped Tuesday.

Bend musician Pete Kartsounes explores new sonic territory on his two new releases, “The Big Chill” and “Dig Deep,” which debuted April 20.

That’s saying a lot for a musician with as diverse of a musical background as Kartsounes, a veteran of the Colorado bluegrass and folk scene.

He’s even cooked up an alter-ego for the project, dubbing himself DJPK.

Kartsounes has lived in Central Oregon the past four years, most of which the multi-instrumentalist was on the road touring with the group Good Time Travelers.

“It was super cool, but (I) was getting ready to take a little bit of a breather, and then COVID hit,” Kartsounes said.

Kartsounes pivoted deftly, teaching music lessons and workshops via Zoom, playing live streaming sets and doing a LOT of writing.

“You called me just as I was sitting down with a guitar in my studio,” he said last week.

“I’m pretty much always creating something every day, whether it be a song, or an album with this new DJPK thing I’m doing, doing some looping or practicing or playing the piano. … A lot of creating. That’s my purpose here on the planet, and I’ve gotten a little more aware of it over the last year and a half. Every day, my partner goes off to work and I start my creation process.”

Kartsounes estimates that he works on music two to eight hours a day — which will yield results.

“A lot of people have asked me if I’m just dying to get back on the road,” he said. “I’ve actually really been loving building this nest here with my partner (Andrea Vielma).”

Kartsounes and Vielma, a marriage and family therapist, live in a commercial building near Juniper Swim and Fitness, out of which they run their new business, Dreamweave Productions.

“We can hold events. We’re building a stage in the backyard to have small outdoor events this summer — speakers, painters, artists, of course music, and movies,” he said. “We’re putting in sod and have a really nice little space right in town with no neighbors. Only one, and that neighbor will probably be in our backyard with us. We’re stoked to bring the community together as much as we can with COVID and wherever we’re at with the numbers and everything.”

You can also purchase Kartsounes’ music through the site, projectdreamweave.com. Last year, Kartsounes released the soulful 8-minute song “Broken,” and the hopeful piano tune “Chasing Dreams.”

Kartsounes also wrote, recorded and released two albums the second half of the year: First, the straightforward “Out Here on My Own, Vol. 1,” featuring his voice, guitar and harmonica dropped in August.

“This was an album that’s just me, myself and I,” he said. “I have nine (albums) now, all of them are a little different. … Very eclectic, from bluegrass to blues to folk, and they have a lot of artists, these very talented friends that I have from the Colorado scene and everything. People always ask, ‘Are you ever going to have something with just you, yourself and you?’”

The pandemic presented the opportunity to make that kind of album. “Mindful Muse” followed in November. As its title might suggest, it’s intended for meditation, yoga, massage and other self-care practices, a little heavier on Native American flute, piano and nature sounds.

“I reinvented myself and did that, which was actually a new-age genre. I listen to that music a lot when I’m in nature, just chilling. I really like that kind of music,” he said.

At Christmas, Vielma gifted him with a Boss RC-505 loop sampler, which has further expanded his solo music options. That sampler is also used by fellow musician Marc Rebillet, whose presence on Youtube blew up big through the course of the pandemic.

“He’s crushing the internet with this improv. He’s really charismatic, and he wears a bathrobe, and he’s super funny,” Kartsounes said. “I’m like, ‘I like that, man. This dude’s cool.’ Well, I open my presents and there’s the Boss RC-505 that Marc uses. I’m like ‘All right, here we go.’”

“Here I am every day. I’m becoming addicted to laying these beats and programming drum machines, where half the keyboard is techno and half is percussion,” he said. “It’s basically … every element of music that I listen to and like.”

When Vielma heard what he was up to, she said, “Here we go, DJPK.”

“I’m like, ‘I kind of like how that flows,’” Kartsounes said. Some of the tunes are sung with his regular voice, and he’s also rapping and making up words via a toned-down voice “that doesn’t sound like me. It’s like an alter-ego,” he said. “Larry White. He comes in and talks about love and coming together. … He’s all about the positive.”

Once Kartsounes had about nine hours of music, he decided to put out a pair of albums. The result is the more chill, downbeat, textured “The Big Chill,” and the more up-tempo, funky “Dig Deep.”

His facility with the new equipment has grown commensurate with the time he’s put in on it, which will help make for a better show when he begins playing out live. You’ll be able to hear DJPK May 8 at River’s Place in Bend, but don’t expect that Kartsounes to haul it to bars regularly: He envisions DJPK as more fit for yoga classes and festivals.

“It’s more like a performance DJ,” he said. “ I’m constantly doing something, and it’s all math. And it’s putting it together to create these really cool sounds. And it could go anywhere. I don’t know where it goes — I don’t have a plan when I start. Everything’s improv.”

If his new sounds are unfamiliar, wait till you see him. “When I perform, I’m going to totally friggin’ wig it out, and bell-bottom it out,” Kartsounes said. “It’s like, I’m sick of myself after 26 years. I’m going to create something totally different and have fun with it.”