WELCOME TO DARK MATTER
A GLIMPSE BEHIND THE CREATIVE PROCESS:
EXPLORING THE STORIES, ART AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WHICH FORMED AND INFLUENCED SINGER AND COMPOSER, URSULA REICHER, HER CONTEMPORARY BIG BAND, “THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER” AND ITS DEBUT ALBUM, “WELCOME TO DARK MATTER”.
DETERMINED TO PUSH BOUNDARIES – HER OWN AS WELL AS OTHERS – REICHER INSISTS UPON ALLOWING LEVITY AND CONVERSATION INTO THE DELICATE SPACE BEYOND OUR COMFORT ZONES. BOLDLY TAKING A DEEP DIVE INTO PERHAPS ONE OF OUR MOST TABOO TOPICS – DEATH – REICHER EXPLORES THE STAGES OF GRIEF, WEAVING I MPASSIONED MUSIC WHERE WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH AND GIVING VOICE TO THE OFTEN UNSPEAKABLE. INSPIRED BY THE POETRY OF MASHA KALÈKO AND THE RESEARCH OF ELISABETH KÜBLER-ROSS, “WELCOME TO DARK MATTER” IS A COALESCENCE OF MUSICAL INFLUENCES, SPANNING JAZZ, ELECTRONIC, CLASSIC AND ROCK. PROUDLY DECLARING, “THIS IS NO TRADITIONAL JAZZ-BIG BAND ALBUM,” REICHER REJOICES IN THE EVOLUTION OF “HER STYLE”. TWENTY TOP MUSICIANS COME TOGETHER UNDER HER LEADERSHIP TO FORM “THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER”, A BIG BAND FUSED FROM MEMBERS OF THE “GRAZ COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA” AND HER OWN, AWARD-WINNING “VOID QUINTET”. COMPOSING, WRITING AND ARRANGING THE RECORD WAS MERELY THE BEGINNING. THREE YEARS AFTER BOTH BAND AND ALBUM WERE FIRST CONCEPTUALISED, SHE WOULD FIND HERSELF IN THE PRODUCER‘S CHAIR, CO-PRODUCING AND MIXING THE ALBUMWITH ANDI KAPFER IN AUDIOTOPE STUDIOS, GRAZ.
PUSHING BOUNDARIES FURTHER STILL, REICHER TRAVELLED TO MUNICH TO WORK WITH IAN SOLUTIONS – PIONEERS OF IMMERSIVE AUDIO – WHO MIXED AND MASTERED THE ENTIRE RECORD IN 3D AUDIO, ALLOWING THE LISTENER A DEPTH OF EXPERIENCE MUCH RICHER THAN THAT OFFERED BY TRADITIONAL STEREO PRODUCTIONS. DEDICATED TO THOSE STILL ON EARTH – THOSE LEFT BEHIND – “WELCOME TO DARK MATTER” IS REICHER’S REMINDER THAT “DEATH IS THE MOST NATURAL THING NEXT TO LIVING.”
AN ARTIST WHO LOVES A GOOD CHALLENGE, SHE INVITES US TO FACE THE GREATEST ONE OF ALL: FINDING COMFORT IN THE BEAUTY AND FRAGILITY OF LIFE, RIGHT ALONGSIDE THE DISCOMFORT OF THE GREAT UNKNOWN.
