Highly Recommended Album: DEEP SEA VENTS (BrhyM [Bruce Hornsby and yMusic] via Zappo Productions/Thirty Tigers

BrhyM, a portmanteau of Bruce Hornsby and the experimental chamber ensemble yMusic, have released their debut album, Deep Sea Vents. released March, 2024. Distinctive, harmonic, inventive, playful, and wholly accessible with astounding orchestrations and fun vocals, the album contains 10 songs about water and the ways we live with, in, or against it, Deep Sea Vents is Hornsby and yMusic as you have never heard them but also instantly identifiable in their own ways. Hornsby’s instant melodic ease joins their rhythmic precision and endless versatility, pulling each toward new currents.

yMusic (photo by Graham Tolbert)

Following a five-concert tour in early 2020, Bruce and the ensemble, comprised of Alex Sopp, flute; Hideaki Aomori, clarinets; CJ Camerieri, trumpet; Rob Moose, violin; Nadia Sirota, viola; and Gabriel Cabezas, cello, decided to keep the musical conversation going remotely during the pandemic and thus, BrhyM, was born. Of the project, Bruce Hornsby states: Over the last decade-plus my journey has included a number of attempts at bringing modern classical content and sounds to the classic pop songwriting structure, asking numerous audiences to explore Ives, Ligeti, Messiaen, Schoenberg, Webern and our local American sentimental favorite Elliott Carter … all potentially leading to this moment and this release.

Bruce Hornsby (photo Sarah Walor)

The gorgeous but heartbreaking track “Foreign Sounds” finds Hornsby picking up the croon of George Jones to share the perspective of a clownfish, lost at sea because of the underwater noise pollution that is currently wrecking ecosystems. It came from Hornsby’s rapacious reading, but it is much more than an academic exercise; it is, instead, a true ballad for the blighted, the heartsick, and the stranded. “The Wild Whaling Life” is a Sea Chantey, inspired by Moby Dick (“Melville was a funny guy,” Hornsby says) and an evocative track by yMusic, a notable serendipitous confluence of events, with Hornsby’s dulcimer lifting a refrain that works as a proclamation of pride. “The Wake of St. Brendan” stemmed from The New York Times’ obituary of Tim Severin, a sailor who re-created the arduous journeys of early explorers. His voice warped by electronics and teased by strings, Hornsby sings a hymn not just for Severin but for anyone who’s found an unorthodox way of existing, of following an obsession to the very ends of the earth. The orchestrations on “Deep Sea Vents” — a mix of Broadway’s Jonathan Tunick and The Beatles — are pure joy.

The album features additional contributions from jazz legend Branford Marsalis, Mark Dover and drummer Chad Wright. So take the deep dive down to the Deep Sea Vents, and come looking for chill-inducing moments.

cover photo Plum Phalaeonopsis by Kathy Hornsby

Track Listing:

1. The Wild Whaling Life 4:21
2. (My) Theory Of Everything 3:26
3. Platypus Wow 3:49
4. Phase Change 4:22
5. Foreign Sounds 4:30
6. The Wake Of St Brendan 3:40
7. Deep Blue 3:22
8. The Baited Line 2:35
9. Barber Booty 3:05
10. Deep Sea Vents 3:34

Upcoming Tour Dates:

APR 21 – Benaroya Hall – Seattle, WA#
APR 23 – Paramount Theatre – Denver, CO#
JUN 18 – Royal Festival Hall (Solo Performance) – London, UK
JUN 27 – Plymouth Memorial Hall – Plymouth, MA*
JUN 29 – Ulster Performing Arts Center – Kingston, NY*
JUN 30 – Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center – Westhampton Beach, NY*
JUL 2 – Musikfest Café – Bethlehem, PA*
JUL 6 – Pavilion at Point of the Bluff Vinyard – Hammondsport, NY*
JUL 8 – Riviera Theatre – North Tonawanda, NY*
JUL 9 – Goodyear Theater – Akron, OH*
JUL 11 – Meijer Gardens with the Grand Rapids Symphony – Grand Rapids, MI+
JUL 12 – The Orpheum Theatre – Madison, WI*
JUL 14 – Corson Auditorium – Interlochen, MI*
JUL 26 – Grand Sierra Resort Theatre – Reno, NV*
JUL 28 – Libbey Bowl – Ojai, CA*
JUL 31 – Troubadour – West Hollywood, CA*
AUG 1 – Troubadour – West Hollywood, CA*
AUG 4 – Pepsi Amphitheater – Flagstaff, AZ*
AUG 7 – KiMo Theatre – Albuquerque, NM*
AUG 8 – The Lensic Performing Arts Center – Santa Fe, NM*
AUG 10 – The Gardens at Spring Creek – Fort Collins, CO* – SOLD OUT
AUG 11 – Chautauqua Auditorium – Boulder, CO*
AUG 13 – Center for the Arts – Jackson, WY*
AUG 15 – Pine Creek Lodge – Livingston, MT*
AUG 17 – Revolution Hall – Portland, OR*
SEP 18 – Germantown Performing Arts Center – Germantown, TN*
SEP 20 – Bourbon & Beyond – Louisville, KY+
SEP 22 – Knight Theater – Charlotte, NC*
SEP 24 – Harvester Performance Center – Rocky Mount, VA*
SEP 25 – The Carolina Theatre – Durham, NC*
SEP 28 – Warner Theatre – Washington, DC*
OCT 1 – Count Basie Center for the Arts – Red Bank, NJ*
OCT 2 – Scottish Rite Auditorium – Collingswood, NJ*
OCT 4 – Flynn Center for the Performing Arts – Burlington, VT*
OCT 5 – The Music Hall – Portsmouth, NH*

#BrhyM (Bruce Hornsby + yMusic)
*Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers: Spirit Trail 25th Anniversary Tour
+Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers