Welcome To Dark Matter Ursula Reicher & The Globular Cluster

• 1 #1 Denial 08:36
• 2 #2 Rage 08:49
• 3 #3 Remorse 05:14
• 4 #4 Disorganization 04:20
• 5 #5 Negotiation 10:28
• 6 #6 Depression 04:01
• 7 #7 Fear 12:00
• 8 #8 Acceptance 08:26
• 9 +9 When I Go 03:41
• Total Runtime 01:05:35

Info for Welcome To Dark Matter

With “Welcome To Dark Matter“ I am delighted to present music I have written especially to combine my contemporary Big Band, “The Globular Cluster“, my award-winning “Void Quintet“ and me, Ursula Reicher, as a solo singer and pianist.

The main topic of these compositions is death and how we deal with the dying of people who are close to us. Thusly I have created a 9-piece concept album, intended to take the listener on a journey of reflection regarding their own lives. The first 8 compositions are based of The Phases of Grief from death researcher, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. Track 9 is my arrangement of a Ben Harper song. On “Welcome To Dark Matter“

I want to shed light on my different musical influences. Therefore it will be no traditional Jazz-Big Band album, rather, elements from Classical-Music and Rock music, as well as influences from Darkpop and Electronic Music will also appear.

In composing and arranging the music I have attempted to exploit the many and varied possibilities presented to me, through different combinations of instruments, in order to create a new and cross-genre sound.

The texts I have written to accompany the music bring another layer of depth to the pieces, however, perhaps the most profound element of “Welcome To Dark Matter” is the live performance.

A glimpse behind the creative process: Exploring the stories, art and personal experience which formed and influenced singer and composer, Ursula Reicher, her contemporary Big Band, “The Globular Cluster” and its debut album, “Welcome To Dark Matter”.

Determined to push boundaries - her own as well as others - Reicher insists upon allowing levity and conversation into the delicate space beyond our comfort zones. Boldly taking a deep dive into perhaps one of our most taboo topics - death - Reicher explores the stages of grief, weaving impassioned music where words are not enough and giving voice to the often unspeakable. Inspired by the poetry of Masha Kalèko and the research of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, “Welcome To Dark Matter” is a coalescence of musical influences, spanning Jazz, Electronic, Classical Music and Rock.

Proudly declaring, “this is no traditional Jazz-Big Band album,” Reicher rejoices in the evolution of “her style”. Twenty top musicians come together under her leadership to form “The Globular Cluster”, a Big Band fused from members of the “Graz Composers Orchestra” and her own, award-winning “Void-Quintet”. composing, writing and arranging the record was merely the beginning.

Three years after both band and album were first conceptualized, she would find herself in the producer‘s chair, co-producing and mixing the album with Andi Kapfer in Audiotope Studios, Graz. Pushing boundaries further still, Reicher travelled to Munich to work with IAN solutions - pioneers of immersive audio - who mixed and mastered the entire record in 3D-audio, allowing the listener a depth of experience much richer than that offered by traditional stereo productions.

Dedicated to those still on earth - those left behind - “Welcome To Dark Matter” is Reicher’s reminder that “death is the most natural thing next to living.” An artist who loves a good challenge, she invites us to face the greatest one of all: finding comfort in the beauty and fragility of life, right alongside the discomfort of the great unknown.

Ursula Reicher, vocals, piano, synthesizer
Johannes Oppel, bass trombone
Patrick Dunst, saxophone, flute, clarinet
Jonathan Herrgesell, saxophone, clarinet
Tobias Hoffmann, saxophone, clarinet
Stephanie Schoiswohl, saxophone, clarinet
Florian Bauer, saxophone, clarinet
Dominic Pessl, trumpet, flugelhorn
Gerhard Ornig, trumpet, flugelhorn
Markus Krofitsch, trumpet, flugelhorn
Jakob Helling, trumpet, flugelhorn
Karl-Heinz Tappler, horn
Adam Ladanyi, trombone
Matthias Zeindlhofer, trombone
Alexander Krobath, trombone
Markus Wonisch, trombone
Viola Hammer, piano, Fender Rhodes
Andreas Fürstner, guitar
Michael Ringer, bass
Thomas Stabler, drums

Ursula Reicher
studied jazz composition and arranging (with Ed Partyka) as well as music education at the KUG in Graz and German at the Karl-Franzens-University Graz. The versatile singer, composer, arranger and pianist works intensively on her main projects The Globular Cluster, The Void-Quintet and K.CIT. With The Globular Cluster, she devotes herself intensively to composition and arrangement, especially for big band music. With the chamber music crossover ensemble The Void-Quintet, she released the debut album Globular Cluster in 2019. In 2021 she was arranger for the concert programme of the UMO Jazz Orchestra in Helsinki; 2021-2022 she is a scholarship holder of the Austrian Working Scholarship for Arts and Culture. Reicher was, among others, a finalist of the Jazz Comp Graz 2017, the Karel Krautgartner Big Band Competition 2021 in Prague and winner and finalist of the European Composers Project 2021 in Cologne; in 2021 she received the City of Graz Appreciation Award; in 2022 she was awarded the Downbeat Award in the category "Outstanding Composition", which The Void-Quintet had also received in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

This album contains no booklet.