Hello Earth! The music of Kate Bush

CD album.

Mycket gott skick. CD, W & W 910 183-2 (2011 / 2011). Den tyske sångaren Theo Bleckmann rör sig i gränslandet mellan avant garde-jazz och rock. Här tar han sig an kompositioner av sångerskan Kate Bush. Snygg digipac med medbundet utvikningsblad."After tackling American maverick composer Charles Ives and receiving a Grammy nomination for it, vocalist Theo Bleckmann now takes on the mysterious songbook of British pop recluse Kate Bush. This project goes beyond merely re-creating Kate Bush's music but taking it into other realms of sound and interpretation. Bush's œuvre is indeed mysterious and often enigmatic in nature: unusual song forms, oracular lyrics and unpredictable meter- and harmony-changes are an anomaly in pop music, making it the perfect vehicle for Bleckmann's distinctive, interpretive spirit and interest in the unusual. Even though Bush still remains a household name, it is fair to say that her music is not your usual run-of the mill boy-meets-girl/boy-looses-girl fare. Her use of British and Irish myths, her references to psychology, literature and film, her meticulously multi-layered productions and her unusually high voice make her idiosyncratic body of work challenging for other artists to interpret.Bleckmann first heard Bush as a young teenager and was immediately intrigued... "Her music has this thing that I love in art: you're instantly drawn into someone's universe without really knowing why but somehow understanding everything in your heart." A lot of teenage pop heroes came and went, but Kate Bush remained a constant in Bleckmann's life. "Her songs and records never became obsolete ? – I now realize that the way she layered sound, speech and music became a major influence for my live electronic looping aesthetic."For »Hello Earth!« Bleckmann chose songs that warranted a different interpretation.Joining him in this venture is long-time collaborators percussionist John Hollenbeck and electric bassist Skúli Sverrisson and keyboardist Henry Hey and violinist/guitarist/vocalist Caleb Burhans, who can also be heard on Bleckmann's Berlin-CD. "When I set out to do this, I knew right away that these were the perfect musicians for this kind of project. "Hollenbeck, a brilliant composer and arranger of his own, contributed his vast orchestrational palette and ideas to the music, including the use of crotales which greatly shaped the sound of this record. Sverrisson and Bleckmann also go back many years having worked together in various configurations (including Laurie Anderson's band). Sverrisson's profound sense of sound and layering and compositional instincts became essential to the music. Keyboard wizard (and newly appointed musical director for George Michael) Henry Hey, whom Bleckmann works with for the first time, contributed a vast array of sounds and possibilities, transforming and bringing to life Bleckmann's initial ideas. Caleb Burhans is perhaps one of the most sought after young musician/composers on the NY downtown scene today: