Cistern is the second album by prodigiously talented musician, collaborator, composer, arranger and producer Jherek Bischoff. Gloriously cinematic, these modern orchestral recordings showcase Jherek’s unerring ability to pull at the heartstrings.

Intrinsically linked to the space in which it was conceived, Cistern was born from time spent improvising in an empty two million gallon underground water tank in Washington state. A space which forced Bischoff to slow down, to reflect, to draw on his childhood growing up on a sailing boat; an emotional journey from the city back to the Pacific Ocean, via the Cistern.

The album itself was recorded with a live orchestra, the New York-based Contemporaneous ensemble, in a converted 19th century church in Hudson, NY.

Cistern follows on the heels of Strung Out In Heaven, a moving string quartet tribute to David Bowie, created with Amanda Palmer and featuring the significant talents of Anna Calvi and Neil Gaiman. They performed ‘Black Star’ at the recent all star Bowie tribute show at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Jherek will also take part in the Bowie tribute at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms in July.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Haunted, dusty chamber-classical mini-movements. Staccato strings and violin sweeps. Cataclysmic percussion bursts and ambient echoes mix to form a cacophonous cocktail before breaking into multi-part melodies. Terse peppered electronic shards slowly morph into triumphant but cautious minor-key swells and ethereal waves of symphony. Superb.

In his 30-odd years, Seattle-based Jherek Bischoff has performed in numerous musical configurations, including Parenthetical Girls, Xiu Xiu, The Degenerate Art Ensemble, The Dead Science, Amanda Palmer and The Wordless Music Orchestra. Described as a “pop polymath” by The New York Times, he’s an instinctive collaborator, trusting himself to be his own best teacher. Indeed, all this music-making has largely been self-taught.

This last may be the most remarkable, especially in the context of his new album Composed. A meticulously arranged, multi-tracked orchestral pop album, it features a host of guests, many of whom appeared at the sold-out Ecstatic Music Festival performance in New York that launched the project in February.

David Byrne collaborates on ‘Eyes’, as sumptuous a slice of meta-pop as anything he’s produced in years, while Parenthetical Girls’ Zac Pennington and French singer/actor Soko duet on the brilliant ‘Young And Lovely’ (these two songs are released as a limited edition 7” for this year’s Record Store Day). Brazilian Tropicalismo legend Caetano Veloso guests on ‘The Secret Of The Machines’ singing lyrics adapted from a Rudyard Kipling poem. Other vocalists include Carla Bozulich (Evangelista, The Geraldine Fibbers), Craig Wedren (Shudder To Think), Mirah and Dawn McCarthy (Faun Fables). Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier and Wilco’s Nels Cline sprinkle some additional instrumental magic over two of the album’s nine songs.

Working in such esteemed company, an even more pleasant surprise is that Jherek manages to make the album his own, without ever falling into the trap of self-indulgence that often besets multi-vocalist projects of this kind. That the album proves to be a consistently rewarding and uplifting body of work is testament to the clarity of his vision.

The genesis of this singular project was informed by Jherek’s history of playing in DIY bands, a fervent desire to make great pop music and a love affair with the potential of the orchestra. His approach was illuminated by a desire to shake up the business-as-usual routine of being an independent rock musician.

I realised a few years ago that being in several serious touring bands at the same time could be really frustrating, because I tend to work on music at least eight hours a day at home, and on tour you only get to make music for an hour a day,” says Jherek of his experience. “I realised that by producing records, doing soundtracks and collaborating on music for dance, I could be creatively involved with a ton of exciting music, and let it have its own legs without having to always be on tour.”

As an orchestral recording Composed is pretty much unique. Do-it-yourself in the purest sense, Jherek first composed the album on a ukulele. Next he arranged, produced and engineered the backing tracks, resolving to achieve an orchestral sound without the orchestral cost by recording the music one instrument at a time using a single microphone and a laptop.
“I recorded each individual musician of the ‘orchestra’ in their own living rooms, and 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, except for Caetano Veloso and David Byrne, who recorded their own parts at home.”

The result of this extraordinary jigsaw puzzle is Composed. It took years. We hope you’ll agree it was worth it.

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

The latest signing to The Leaf Label is multi-talented Seattle-based composer/arranger/producer Jherek Bischoff

His first release for the label will be this strictly limited edition 7” single for RECORD STORE DAY

‘Eyes’ is a collaboration with ex-Talking Head and international treasure David Byrne

There will be just 500 of these singles released in Europe by Leaf.

The two songs are a taster for Jherek's forthcoming album Composed, out in late May

‘Young And Lovely’ features the talents of Parenthetical Girls’ Zac Pennington and acclaimed French vocalist Soko

The individually hand-numbered 7” is packaged in a full-colour die-cut sleeve

The songs will ONLY be available in this format until the release of the album