On Polyism Brückner puts his considerable musical chops to use, in the service of a rollercoaster of an album that truly eschews categorisation.
Courtesy of Someone Great PR
Today Modus Pitch, the new project of Leipzig-based musician, engineer, and producer Friedrich Brückner, announces his debut solo album Polyism due out November 25th via Altin Village & Mine (Xiu Xiu, Fenster, Deerhoof etc).
The announcement comes with the release of dark, minimal, sax and synth soaked new single ‘Hill Top Jacuzzi’. The second single to be released from the album, following on from electronic, breakbeat number ‘Suspender‘ released earlier this year.
Friedrich Brückner has been a decisive figure in the Leipzig music scene for decades. Having received a classical musical education, Brückner most recently figured as part of the German-American band White Wine, playing the bassoon, bass and synthesizer, but has also, as either musician, producer, engineer or sound designer, toured internationally with the likes of Yoko Ono, Get Well Soon, Modeselektor, and Dear Reader.
On Polyism Brückner puts his considerable musical chops to use, in the service of a rollercoaster of an album that truly eschews categorisation, being, as its title suggests, a work of being multiform. Whilst the sound takes wide ranging cues from jazz, new age, dub, electronics, right through to post punk, Brückners compositions never feel accidental in the slightest. Instead they share a distinctive sense of dramaturgy, a pronounced attention to sonic texture, and a sense of purpose both within the individual pieces as well as in the context of the album as a whole. Inspired by road trips, movie scores and tripping on the coach, the result is an LP that is astonishingly coherent, considering the multitude of means it employs.
Modus Pitch came to fruition due to a combination of the lockdowns and the ending of Brückner’s band White Wine, as band mate Joe Haege (Tu Fawning, Menomena, 31 Knots) went back to the US. This gave Brückner time to dive into his own creative output, putting his efforts into making solo works, something he had never done before as he adds “I wanted to be free and make my debut solo album different from anything I have done before”. Polyism was produced by Philipp Huelsenbeck and made between Brückner’s recording studio Haunted Haus in Leipzig and in Berlin at Huelsenbeck’s Studio Conflux. Brückner on working with Huelsenbeck: “that made me smile, because it’s the first time I have worked with a producer and it was plenty of fun. We decided just a few things in the very beginning; first of all, the sketch always had to begin with a melody, no beat or tempo or chords, that was the main goal! We tried a different setup every time, sometimes we used analog gear like old synths, bassoon, drums and bass but other times we used granular synths and complete digital effects. After we had almost 20 ideas we started to work independently on the tracks with Philipp in Berlin and myself in Leipzig. Some tracks have changed completely and went in a totally different direction than the original ideas and this was a very enjoyable, organic and smooth process”.
The debut enlists a veritable all-star cast of guest performances including a four year old! Ranging from features from his parents Isabell and Bernd Brückner, both professional musicians, on saxophone, clarinet, and flute, Martin Wenk (Calexico) on trumpet, to Hendrik Otremba (Messer) and Brückners four-year-old daughter Rosa both on vocals, to name but a few. Each lends their own notes to Polyism, a work of what it means to live, that is, to be many.
