David Byrne, French singer and actor Soko and Wilco guitarist Nels Cline are just some of the collaborators Seattle based pop polymath* Jherek Bischoff has cobbled together for his latest album Composed.
Part classical, part pop and part, what some might call, chamber pop, it’s an intriguing mix. There is a coherence, with a strong beginning in Introduction and end with Insomnia, Death and the Sea, but its not a great listen all the way through.
There are wonderful tracks. David Byrne’s collaboration on second track Eyes particularly stands out, as does Nels Cline’s contribution on Blossom and Parenthetical Girls Zac Pennington and Soko’s duet on Young and Lovely.
My favourite is The Nest, featuring Mirah Zeitlyn on vocals, which sounds like a lost Nancy Sinatra track discovered by Quentin Tarantino for his latest soundtrack.
But it is a little patchy in places. The Secret of The Machines, featuring Caetano Veloso is just too whimsical. And final track Insomnia, Death and the Sea, with Dawn MccArthy on vocals, while offering a satisfying conclusion does sound a little silly in places, like a soundtrack by a drunk Michael Nyman.
There are similarities to another so-called pop polymath, Owen Pallett, in composition and sense of melody but Bischoff does not quite have that same keen sense of drama, except maybe for The Nest.
As a complete album this is not great, but some of the individual tracks, most notably Eyes and The Nest are among my favourites of the year. Definitely worth checking out, but one for fast forward button fans in places.
*Bischoff has been called a pop polymath by the New York Times and it refers to an artist’s ability to do more than one thing associated with pop at the same time. Essentially for Bischoff it is the ability to ring up David Byrne, coordinate a string ensemble and write lyrics simultaneiously that impressed the New York Times. A pop polymath is not to be confused with a ‘rock polymath’ such as Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson who has the ability to fly a large passenger airline and air guitar at the same time.
7/10
by Joe Lepper
Related Posts
