Jherek Bischoff is not a name I was familiar and it's down to a friend who recommended a recent collaboration with David Byrne that I picked it up... though it turns out he was talking a completely different collaboration (thanks anyway though Charles!).
Bischoff is a multi-instrumentalist composer described by the NME as the missing link between the "somber undertones of Ennio Morricone and the unpredictability of John Cale".
COMPOSED is an orchestral pop album where Bischoff collaborates with the aforementioned Talking Heads singer as well as Brazilian Tropicalia legend Caetano Veloso, French singer Soko, Wilco guitarist Nels Cline and a host of other musician from bands that I've (ashamedly) never heard of.
Sounds a little self-indulgent doesnt it. It isn't. When you hear the music you'll imagine it was recorded during some lavish recording session in some gargantuan recording studio with a full orchestra at his disposal. That couldn't be further from the truth.
Bischoff composed the album on ukulele, next he arranged and engineered the backing tracks without the expense of a full orchestra but by recording one instrument at a time using a single microphone and a laptop.
"I recorded each individual musician of 'the orchestra' in their own living room, then I layered each instrument - sometimes one violinist playing one part twenty times - until it was the size of a huge orchestra. I spent the summer riding my bike from house to house recording each musician. I finished the album by taking a road trip to record all the singers in person".
Standout tracks are hard to choose but if i must... the anthemic 'Counting' (with Carla Bozulic), 'Eyes' (with David Byrne) and 'Young and Lovely' (with Zak Pennington and Soko).
Magical, playful and at times also quite dramatic and bombastic, COMPOSED is a rich and sumptuous record; sweeping classical arrangements that envelop the guest singers in a noise that is at times beautiful and at others, thunderous. A real labour of love by the composer, but utterly worth it.
'EYES'
'YOUNG & LOVELY'
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