WORLDS COLLIDE! KINBOM/BRANDENBURG – Madame Vega
Kinbom/Brandenburg – Madame Vega LP is available at Apple Music, Bandcamp, Spotify.
by Walter Price
Whimsey, melodramatic, charming, hints of the macabre, and vastly intriguing are just a handful of the indelible characteristics of the collaborative LP, “Madame Vega” by composers Fredrik Kinbom and Hans-Jörn Brandenburg. The collective thinking on this masterclass work was to meld two composers’ instruments of choice, lap steel (Kinbom) and piano (Brandenburg), and the results are awe-inspiringly weird and magical.
“..the guitar is from 1939, this Bechstein grand piano is from 1935 – or 7… Maybe the whole thing was not about me and Fredrik meeting, in fact, it was just about these instruments meeting.” – Brandenburg
As indie music often stays in its familiar lane, this LP explores new realms of avant-garde. Not to scare anyone who likes things simple and of the norm, but I say that to let you know ahead of time that as you push play, a whole new world will unfold. And its as beautiful as it is an ever expanding artwork.
“I have an old lap steel guitar, an art-deco type beautiful thing. It’s really heavy, has legs and it’s square, so I place my hands on the wood when playing and it’s more like playing the piano than playing the guitar.” – Kinbom
If you’re into the sounds of Dutch Falconi, the mystical and/or mind-expanding sounds, then take this album for a long weekend spin. And you can stream Madame Vega’ as well as Kinbom’s 2018 masterpiece ‘Songs For Lap Steel And Harmonium’, now at the GTC.
KINBOM/BRANDENBURG – Madame Vega
+ Fredrik Kinbom Songs For Lap Steel And Harmonium
Hans-Jörn Brandenburg – piano, celesta, synth, ROLI Seaboard Rise, harmonium (1, 6, 9), organ, melodica, double bass (5, 10), whistling (5), voice (1), drum machine, typewriter.
Fredrik Kinbom – lap steel guitar, double bass (2, 4, 9, 11), fretless ukulele bass, harmonium (1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12), guitar, percussion (2, 8), whistling (2), voice (12), tape machine.
Sophia Baltatzi – violin
Ulli Bartel – violin, mandolin
Andreas Dormann – bass clarinet
Frank Gratkowski – clarinet, flute
Jan Gropper – flugelhorn
Cordula Hanns – voice (5)
Steve Heather – drums
Andreas Henze – double bass (3)
Sonja Kessner – voice (5)
Valter Kinbom – percussion (4, 7)
Albrecht Leu – marching horn, French horn
Constanze Lobodzinski – flute, piccolo flute
Marie Renault – viola
Earlier mixes of tracks 2, 4, 6 and 12 were featured in Jean Boué’s Grimme Preis award winning film “Die Unerhörten”.
Hans-Jörn Brandenburg / Fredrik Kinbom / Kinbom/Brandenburg
“Incident, accident, ingredient. These things should be very open, and freely mixed in music. Then you kind of create something living, unique, and of the moment.” – Kinbom/Brandenburg