First the birds chirp, then a cuckoo makes its characteristic call. Bex Burch picks this up with her xylophone and spins it into a musical whole. Thus begins »There Is Only Love And Fear«, an album that also tells of the links between artistic music and field recordings, recordings made in the forest, in city parks, in a canyon, in front of a row of shops. Composer and multi-instrumentalist Bex Burch spent a month in Chicago in the summer of 2022 at the invitation of post-genre label International Anthem. This is how the album came about, a concept that also involved the artist meeting her collaborators from International Anthem’s extended circle—including multi-instrumentalists Ben LaMar Gay, Macie Stewart (Finom) and Dan Bitney (Tortoise)—just before recording started in the studio. With her projects Vula Viel and Flock, Burch has shown that she is at home in many musical worlds, and her first solo album is also characterised by her multi-stylistic approach. It embodies a free flow of thoughts, ideas and improvisation—sounds become music and vice versa. Percussion instruments, which usually feature in the background, play the leading role here. Hints of minimal music, free improvisation and contemporary composition meet jazz as the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians understands it.
Various Artists
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