''Composed'' is an album by
Sacramento born musician, composer and arranger
Jherek Bischoff. It was released by
The Leaf Label and
Brassland
Brassland is an independent record label founded in 2001 by Alec Hanley Bemis, Aaron Dessner, and Bryce Dessner.
History
In Brassland's early years, Bemis worked as a freelance journalist for ''LA Weekly'' and ''The New York Times''. The Dessners ...
. The album features nine orchestral pieces with a different vocalist on eight of the nine tracks.
Background
In a departure from the recording techniques normally associated with orchestral music, Bischoff relied heavily on the process of
overdubbing
Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...
in the creation of ''Composed''. Spending a summer travelling by bicycle he recorded "each individual musician of the ‘orchestra’ in their own living rooms", sometimes leading to "one violinist playing one part twenty times...until it was the size of a huge orchestra".
After recording the instrumental parts, Bischoff then visited each of the guest vocalists to record them, apart from
Caetano Veloso and
David Byrne
David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...
, who recorded their own parts at home.
The other guest vocalists on the album are
Greg Saunier (
Deerhoof), Mirah Zeitlyn, Paris Hurley,
Nels Cline,
Craig Wedren,
Carla Bozulich,
Zac Pennington (
Parenthetical Girls), Soko and Dawn McCarthy (
Faun Fables
Faun Fables is an American band based in Oakland, California. Faun Fables is a concept and vehicle for Dawn McCarthy, who was inspired to write the original material while traveling after leaving the New York City music scene in 1997. Faun Fable ...
).
Critical reception
In a 4/5 star review, ''
The Guardian'' describes ''Composed'' album as "a collection of lavishly orchestrated pop songs that throb with expressionistic drama, by turns romantic, playful and faintly sinister" adding, "occasionally Composed sounds indulgent, when Bischoff succumbs to syrupy, symphonic cliche; even so, its ambition and singularity are intoxicating".
called Bischoff "a hugely talented composer, with sky-high ambitions" but stated that the "multiple guest vocalists...keep things lively while also preventing a through-line from developing...lending the album the feel of a busy, semi-staged opera".
Spectrum Culture counters this, saying the album fits together "seamlessly" due to Bischoff's "selflessness".
''Composed'' is described as "a piece of immaculately arranged orchestral pop, one whose level of baroque whimsy varies by track and by guest after noteworthy guest" by ''Alarm''.
Track listing
All music by Jherek Bischoff. All lyrics by guest vocalists.
''Scores: Composed Instrumentals''
''Composed'' was followed by ''Scores: Composed Instrumentals'', an instrumental version of the album that does not feature any of the guest vocalists from the original record. When purchasing the record, the customer is also offered the
score
Score or scorer may refer to:
*Test score, the result of an exam or test
Business
* Score Digital, now part of Bauer Radio
* Score Entertainment, a former American trading card design and manufacturing company
* Score Media, a former Canadian m ...
transcripts of the music to download.
References
External links
"Eyes" official video"Young & Lovely" official video
2012 albums
Jherek Bischoff albums
The Leaf Label albums
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