Album Review: Asymmetrical Dot from Stephen Emmer

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Album:  Asymmetrical Dot
Artist:  Stephen Emmer
Label:  Self-Released
Release Date:  February 27, 2026
Website:  https://stephenemmer.com
 
Multi-instrumentalist, orchestrator, arranger, composer, and bandleader Stephen Emmer collaborates with like-minded creators and musicians on his ambitious endeavor Asymmetrical Dot. A deeply personal, musical journey that combines jazz noir ambiences, operatic silhouettes, vesper-like sonorous, lamenting expressions, and ghostly vocals.  Emmer whittles an inviting and eclectic amalgam that incites mass consciousness.  Beckoning the listener to travel into the cavernous soundscapes, fusing misty atmospheres and eerie missives.
 
Melancholic wisps sweep across "Accepting the Albatros," transitioning into a consoling tone in the circular strings of "Benja's Birth."  The brooding missive and lamenting tint of "Amboina (for Roekie Aronds)" is haloed in operatic vocals.  The track is a homage to Emmer's mother who passed away.  The vesper-rich sonorous of "The Beauty of Unevenness" has a pensive skew, coursing into the sullen vibes of "Always the Same Different," speckled in fissures of bright shimmers.  The tribal beats of "37 Days" are partnered with spiraling sensations while haunting silhouettes contour "The Weight of Words."
 
"Cri de Coeur (for Mark Hollis)" has a weightless feel, sowing a sprightly froth, diverging from the intense dirges and doleful climate that is the bulk of the recording.  The soundscapes leave the listener with the impression of confronting inner struggles. loss, and coming in touch with burrowed thoughts.  Emmer shows that beauty is expressed in an array of ways.  He has found an eclectic one that calls to the subliminal realm.  Able to awaken a mass consciousness using gentle persuasion.
 
Musicians:
Stephen Emmer - Composer, producer, arranger, orchestrator, piano, guitar, bass, keyboards, and electronics
Willem Friede - Orchestrator, transcriber & orchestra conductor
Ian Burdge - Cello
Everton Nelson - Violin
Michael Moore - Clarinet
Jan Kooper - Saxophones
Rik Mol - Trumpet
Vocalists Arpi Alto, Beth Hirsch, Courtney Swain, Maria Alejandra Quintanilla, and Beth Hirsch

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