Joseph Branciforte & Theo Bleckmann: LP2 – the aesthetic is minimalist, the music more multidimensional

Theo Bleckmann is a Germany-born, long-time New York-residing vocalist and new music composer whose panoramic work embraces Weimar art songs, Las Vegas showtunes, solo a cappella pieces and arrangements of songs by Charles Ives and Kate Bush. He has been described as “a jazz vocalist for the 21st century” and “the angel-voiced muse of the avant-garde”.

Joseph Branciforte is a New York multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and Grammy-winning recording engineer who has worked with jazz and electronic innovators such as Ben Monder, Tim Berne, Taylor Deupree and Ryuichi Sakamoto. He also runs an experimental record label called Greyfade, whose debut release, in 2019, was LP1, a highly regarded collaboration between Branciforte and Bleckmann in which the former’s compelling digital soundscapes and the latter’s evocative wordless vocals combined symbiotically to create a “complete conceptual universe unto itself”.

LP2 – the aesthetic is minimalist, the music more multidimensional – is a companion piece and natural evolution that, if anything, feels even more immersive. At once contemplative and stimulating, ear-opening and mind-altering, the music is enigmatic, somewhat disquieting and supremely visual. It’s like being taken on an aural journey to outer space or deep ocean, experiencing sounds no human has heard before. The overall sense is one of awe and possibility; we are in a liminal realm “between improvisation and composition, live performance and studio production, human and machine-generated sound”.

Greyfade commendably eschews streaming services in favour of high-resolution direct downloads and limited-edition vinyl editions. Go to Bandcamp and greyfade.com.