Joseph Branciforte and Jozef Dumoulin are kindred spirits, with their musical inclinations leaning towards improvisation, experimentation, and the testing of the limits of musical forms. Branciforte, based in New York, constructs and produces process-based music – often implementing electronic keyboards – through his prolific label greyfade. Dumoulin, from Belgium, is recognized for his role in redefining the Fender Rhodes electric piano as a 21st-century instrument through extensive electronic manipulation. A chance meeting more than a decade ago led to the two of them recording what would become ITERAE, a record that brings together their passion for imbuing the Rhodes with electronics and processing.
Branciforte and Dumoulin met in 2014 at the Middelheim Jazz Festival in Antwerp, Belgium, while Branciforte was touring with Vijay Iyer and heard Dumoulin perform what he called “an absolutely mind-boggling solo Rhodes set”. On his Instagram page, Branciforte explains: “I had never heard anyone play the Rhodes this way, treating it as a textural and harmonic source that could be extensively manipulated and transformed into limitless sound.” They eventually reconnected at Branciforte’s studio in Mount Vernon, a suburb outside of New York City, where they recorded the album.
The concept behind ITERAE is fairly straightforward; both musicians play separate Rhodes pianos, each applying his own array of processing and effects. Additionally, Branciforte implemented a custom live editing system that processes both musicians’ outputs in real time. The overall effect is spectacular. While the Fender Rhodes is often associated with the pop sounds of the 1970s (or the slightly more traditional sounds of jazz fusion), it’s used here as a gateway to improvisation, the modernity of experimental glitches, and two artists playing off each other in a mesmerizing fashion.
Clocking in at 70 minutes, ITERAE is a multi-disc release, distributed across four 80mm compact discs, plus a full-length CD for continuous playback. The length of the performance – a longer extended piece than anything either artist has attempted in the past – is purely intentional. “Usually, I favor concision in recorded works,” explains Branciforte on the record’s Bandcamp page. “The logic of the way these pieces unfolded a larger canvas.”
The eight individual pieces are given unusual, three-sided characters for song titles, but can be identified more simply as “tracks 1 through 9”. The first track uses a repetitive glitch as its base, while brief static bursts interrupt the flow and distorted groans punctuate it. The second track moves along the same lines with sustained notes providing a beautiful, eerie soundscape. As the album progresses, it takes on elements more familiar to a typical Rhodes enthusiast. There are dark, reflective moments that recall the early jazz-fusion of Miles Davis‘ iconic In a Silent Way.
Tracks six and seven, for instance, contain plenty of ruminating Rhodes chords brushing up against the ever-present alien noises, like Herbie Hancock orbiting outer space. The sound becomes more ambient and less abrasive. On the final track, the fusion soundscapes return to a slightly more mysterious, dissonant place, as organ-like stabs dot the atmosphere.
Joseph Branciforte and Jozef Dumoulin are artists who revel in music that requires patient listening, open-ended composition and improvisation that seems delightfully out of step with the short attention spans of streaming customers. It’s no surprise that Branciforte’s greyfade label stresses physical media over streaming services. It is music that lives and breathes in physical form, a throwback to the days of tactile album purchases, when listeners could experience the unfettered joy of hearing these records on a home stereo. ITERAE is a stunning accomplishment and a testament to that ethos of high-end musical quality you can hold in your hand.