Following 2021’s Cape Cod Cottage — Eder’s concept album under the guise of Edward Blankman, a retired dentist who wrote elegant jazz in the1970s — on Therapy, Eder drops the alter ego and the drumset (almost entirely) and explores more reverberant sounds with his ensemble of woodwinds. The result is a distinctive take on new-age ambient music subtly interwoven with Eder’s affinity for 20th century classical and jazz.
The quest for Therapy came during a period of deep spiritual curiosity. Eder was avidly watching testimonies of near death experience
survivors (NDEs), pouring over books of Theosophical artwork and philosophy, and processing experiences of grief, uncertainty and spirituality.
Eder wanted to explore the threshold between the spiritual and physical dimensions, and create music that could evoke its shape and texture — a theme further illustrated in the original album artwork and single covers by Adam Rabinowitz. Eder felt he must be on to something when, on a whim, he looked up the tempo of a piece he was calling “137 Riddle.” Turned out to be “the most important number in the world” in theoretical physics, as well as a provocative number in Jewish mysticism.
Maintaining his track record of recording the best musicians Eder can find, Therapy features special guests Nailah Hunter (harp), Henry Solomon (saxophone), and Ethan Haman on The Newberry Memorial Organ at Yale University.
"Eder is a Los Angeles-based jazz composer and film scorer (including for Ari Aster) whose last album, Cape Cod Cottage, I discovered purely on the basis of the lovely painting on its cover. (I only came to love it more when I learned that it was a concept album about “a retired dentist who wrote elegant minimalist jazz circa 1970”.) Where that album was breezy and balmy, the follow-up is powerfully sad, with deep woodwinds leading furrowed, circular melodies – not a million miles from a much darker take on Alabaster DePlume’s breakout album To Cy & Lee. Better still, the concept here was: “What would Aphex Twin do with a chamber ensemble and a church organ?”"
Laura Snapes (The Guardian - Best of 2023)
"In the sonic sphere that Eder has crafted, remnants of the likes of Philip Glass flow brilliantly within the contexts of his original jazz composition and the hallmarks of ambient recapitulation."
Mark Neeley (Aquarium Drunkard)
"Is there anything Brendan Eder can’t do? In the past few years alone the creatively restless Los Angeles musician has done everything from score short films and helm a well-received concept record under the alias of a retired dentist, to playing drums on the last one from Colleen Green. On third full-length Therapy, Eder is back with the curious directive: “What would Aphex Twin do with a chamber ensemble?” The answer is, apparently, make a record of woodwind arrangements brimming with beauty and a soothing ambience worthy of the title, imbued with a solemnity that belies its high concept hook (though there are two Aphex Twin covers and they’re both great and will appeal to all the graying YouTube commenters who reminisce about coming down in their teenage bedrooms in the 90s while watching MTV.) Recorded in a Southern California church and partially inspired by Eder’s burgeoning interest in the metaphysical and a lot of near-death experience videos on YouTube, there is something of the sacred in these wordless songs with their concise, lovely melodies, enriched by contributions from guest musicians such as harpist Nailah Hunter, which do not attempt to provoke any particular reaction from the listener, but rather provide a safe cocoon of reassuringly pleasant sound through which all manner of emotions might be processed and released."
Mariana Timony (Bandcamp)
credits
released April 5, 2024
Written and Produced by Brendan Eder*
Christine Tavolacci - flute, piccolo flute
Henry Solomon - alto sax
Amber Wyman - bassoon
Andrew Conrad - Bb and bass clarinet (2, 4-7)
Sérgio Coelho - Bb and bass clarinet (1, 3, 8, 9)
Eric McCann - electric bass (1-3, 6, 8)
Brendan Eder - keyboards and percussion (2, 4-6, 8-10)
Leah Paul - flute (1, 9)
Ethan Haman - organ (3)
Nailah Hunter - harp (4)
Logan Kane - upright bass (10)
Marissa Honda - english horn (10)
Recorded at Church of the Good Shepherd, Arcadia, CA**
Engineered by Brendan Eder
Assistant Engineering by Eric McCann
Mixed by Brendan Eder
Mastered by Chris Sorem
Album Art by Adam Rabinowitz
Album Design by Maziyar Pahlevan
Cassette Layout by Scott Duffey
*#3 (Rhubarb) and #17 written by Richard D James (BMG Blue)
**Organ on “Ending” recorded on The Newberry Memorial Organ, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
As a first track on an album this has to be up there. It sets the tone, a rocking buoy on the Bristol channel, a signal to sea. Brigstow is the landscape that sets the stage for the story to follow Amy Stretch Parker
