Rhythmicon

"Rhythmicon" is the piece which deals with this alternative night-time energy, one that thrives on movement and intensity. Inspired by Leon Theremin’s innovative electro-mechanical musical instrument from the 1930s, "Rhythmicon" is a vigorous percussive track involving multiple and simultaneous rhythmic patterns. “My main synthesizer, the Critter & Guitari Organelle, has a modern version of a rhythmicon on it. I then used the marimba and built lots of additional layers and it became a tribal party of sorts. It's all about rhythm and not much more,” notes Schumacher. The track pays tribute to Steve Reich’s minimal composition ‘Music for 18 Musicians’ in the way the vibraphone’s playing leads the way through the arrangement. The track expresses a sentiment that’s true of the whole album, the magical feeling of being in good company amidst the dark cosmos.

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Pascal Schumacher

Pascal studied classical percussion, jazz vibraphone and musicology at music conservatories in Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Brussels and The Hague. He holds a Master’s Degree in musicology from the Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg, and another in music with a focus on jazz vibraphone from the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague. He has won many awards, including the Belgian Django d’Or (2005), Music:LX (2012), ECHO Jazz (2012), JTI Trier Jazz (2014), was selected for the Rising Stars program organized by the European Concert Hall Organization (2009 / 10) and appeared as soloist in ECHO Klassik 2017 awarded project Überbach.

He played with many of exciting musicians such Francesco Tristano, Bachar Mar-Khalifé, Jef Neve, Kenny Barron & Magic Malik, wrote music for theater and film and leaded a jazz quartet. Today he mixes emotional classical music with minimal electronic sounds, although Schumacher himself considers each classification obsolete. To him, music is a single, limitless playground.

2018 also marked a new beginning for Pascal Schumacher, who upon invitation to play at Jazz & The City Festival In Salzburg, started to develop his own solo material. The experience opened up an entirely new path for the composer culminating in his debut solo album, SOL. SOL captures Schumacher’s newfound passion for solitude in all its magnetism all the while remaining true to the main characteristic of his relationship with the vibraphone; intimacy. SOL has ben released via Neue Meister in June 2020.

Pascal is a Yamaha Artist and a Professor for Jazz and Classical Percussion at the Conservatoire de Musique de Luxembourg. - He is the Artistic Director of the innovative 'Reset' Music Festival at Abbaye Neimenster and an Ambassador for SOS Children's Villages International - Luxembourg.