Vibraphonist and composer Pascal Schumacher announces his new album, LUNA, a quiet nocturnal journey in the good company of Echo Collective string ensemble and a natural progression from Schumacher’s previous release, SOL.
Pascal Schumacher’s new album LUNA stands in diametric opposition to his previous release, SOL. And it’s not just the play on the albums’ titles, which already point to the differing moods of lightness and darkness, both releases also stem from opposing creative standpoints. While SOL carried in it a sense of spontaneous discovery as Schumacher – after years of playing with bands and ensembles – ventured out in his first solo endeavour, LUNA captures a more meticulous side to the musician’s work which involved once again composing for other players; more specifically for the Belgium post-classical ensemble Echo Collective, who lends to the album its many layers and textures. Despite the contradictions, SOL and LUNA aren’t in any way antagonistic to each other, much on the contrary, their duality feels wholly complementary, expressing a natural musical progression, much like day gently feeds into night.