Jherek Bischoff - Composed (2012)

It's hard to imagine I almost missed this record: there might not be record so relevant to all of my interests than Jherek Bischoff's Composed. And yet that was almost the case. I had no idea of its existence until "Eyes" was featured on Sondre Lerche's Best of 2012 Spotify playlist and was reminded to check out the whole album by it's featured spot on We Listen For You's Overlooked Albums of 2012.  

Jherek Bischoff's record certainly boasts an impressive list of players; from legendary heavyweights David Byrne and Caetano Veloso to somewhat newer acts in Deerhoof's Greg Saunier and Mirah Zeitlyn (of Mirah and Thao + Mirah fame) but the featuring of such a talented and eclectic bunch of performers is secondary to Bischoff's own talents. Featuring an enormous orchestral sound, Composed is more of a display of Bischoff's excellent producer talents than anything. Recording friends, collaborators, and co-conspirators separately and layering them to get sound of an orchestra.

Despite it's opening and the rather straightforward David Byrne led "Eyes", Composed is a lot more than clear trodden lines and accessible fanfares. On, "The Secret of the Machines", Bischoff plays with instrument timbres and employs their percussive qualities and drafts fleeting ornaments before allowing everything to unravel noisily into a slightly jarring outro. While dark, languorous "The Nest" plays like an interesting mix of cabaret and gypsy song. With it's rotating cast of players, the album's truest source of cohesiveness comes from Bischoff himself and his artful arrangements to keep things from sounding like too many hands on the jukebox.  

Writing the songs himself on ukulele before expanding them into the orchestral pop majesty you hear at play and shining a spotlight on those who offered to take it, it's rather unsurprising that Bischoff's album escaped widespread notice last year as he seems more than content to work from the sidelines, providing all the tools for an impressive victory while taking so very little of the credit. A humble record bursting not only with talent but a myriad of ideas skillfully employed.

Get a taste of the brilliant record with this sampler from Brassland:

Watch: David Byrne & St. Vincent - "Who"

With David Byrne and St. Vincent's collaborative album Love This Giant out next week and an album stream already up, it's certainly about time we got a video for the thing. And if case you weren't sure their partnership would churn out something both massively quirky but all together stunning, well clearly you don't know the two of them. Their video for "Who" is no exception.

Beginning with what looks like a car accident, David Byrne encounters Annie Clark lying face up in front of his car. After checking to see if she's alright, he moves her closer to his car while he appears to be pondering what to do. And then things start to spiral a little into absurdity. There's a good old dance party as David Byrne starts dancing and Annie Clark mimics him at a safe space. And then several different versions of the accident in question begin to play out so that you're not too sure what actually happened. It's kind of a trip made all the more wonderful and confoundingly amazing by the brass-laden "Who" soundtracking the whole thing.

Watch David Byrne and St. Vincent's video for "Who" directed by Martin de Thurah:

David Byrne & St. Vincent - "Who"

It's really hard to imagine a time when St. Vincent wasn't utterly knocking my socks off but there was indeed a time when that was true. Purely because I hadn't found her yet. And after subduing  string ensembles for Actor and taming newly minted eclectic chamber group yMusic for "Proven Badlands", a extrapolation of Actor's "The Sequel" on yMusic's debut Beautiful Mechanical, Annie Clark has set her sights on the wily brass band on her collaboration with the legendary David Byrne for Love This Giant.

What started a simple collaboration and act of charity for Housing Works has turned into a full-fledged album and I'm sure every fan of good music is currently fan-girl/boy-ing out right now. It's almost a given that the album is going to be a work of art and pop goodness but we don't even have to wait for see. Not entirely anyway. Today, the first peek at the album went live so we can all hear it.

Feast your ears on "Who", an outrageous almost offensively awesome pop jam from the staggeringly brilliant minds of David Byrne and St. Vincent.




David Byrne & St. Vincent's Love This Giant is out September 11th on 4AD/Todo Mundo.