Bex Burch Releases New Album 'THERE IS ONLY LOVE AND FEAR'

Composer, percussionist, producer and instrument maker Bex Burch shares her debut solo LP There is only love and fear via International Anthem.

invited to spend a month in the US by International Anthem in Summer 2022, UK-born, Berlin-based artist Bex Burch brought her hand-made xylophone and immersed herself in the label's creative community - listening to what it gave her, making field recordings, and allowing There is only love and fear to emerge from the collaborations and environments she encountered.

Sessions for the album spanned multiple non-traditional recording spaces including a storefront in Bridgeport, Chicago and a canyon in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, with an eminent cast of creative musicians including Ben LaMar Gay, Macie Stewart, Anna Butterss, Mikel Patrick Avery, and Dan Bitney, all of whom Burch met for the first time in the moments before they played.

A load of footage and photographs were taken by Burch's collaborators and hosts between Chicago and Los Angeles, and have been beautifully edited together into an illuminating There is only love and fear mini documentary by David Burkart, with interview footage shot in Berlin in 2023 by Fabian Brennecke.

Watch the documentary here:

TOUR DATES

October 20 - Cafe Oto, London, UK
October 27 - King Georg, Cologne, Germany
October 30 - Rhinoçéros, Berlin, Germany (Listening session w/ Bex Burch)
November 03 - ÜBERJAZZ Festival, Hamburg, Germany
November 17 - Jazz Brugge, Belgium 

ABOUT BEX BURCH

Bex Burch is an English-born composer, percussionist, producer and instrument maker based in Berlin, Germany.

Employing percussion and handmade xylophones, she has carved out a unique sonic space for herself. Her restless creativity and desire to embrace new musical challenges across a range of percussive instruments have led to collaborations with a diverse range of artists such as Peter Zummo, Kuljit Bhamra, Tamar Osborn, Leafcutter John, Mariá Portugal, Tony Buck and Evelyn Glennie. Her recorded music with Boing!, Flock and her celebrated band Vula Viel has seen her straddle the divergent worlds of minimalism, post punk, and improvisation with equal success. 

Bex spent three years in Ghana under the apprenticeship of master Dagaare xylophonist Thomas Sekgura, a formative experience that gave her a deep seated respect for the powerful music and also the confidence to pursue a path that reflected her own voice and the myriad strands and tastes of her personality.

Formed by Bex in 2015 Vula Viel's music has shifted over the course of their three critically acclaimed albums from Afro jazz-tinged adaptations of traditional Dagaare music towards a unique sound rooted in post punk. Placing Bex's rawly delivered gyil rhythms as the central element, the band's scything rock dynamics have seen them championed by Iggy Pop. The trio, whose line up is completed by bassist Ruth Goller and drummer Jim Hart — have gained further plaudits for their pulsating live shows at venues such as Café OTO and Total Refreshment Centre, and festivals such as WOMAD, Moers Festival, and Willisau Jazz Festival, while they have performed live sessions for Gilles Peterson's BBC 6 Music show and at Worldwide FM.

The last two years has seen Bex expand her sonic palette yet further as an improvisatory artist. Boing!, her collaborative album with Leafcutter John saw the pair combine minimalist percussion and exuberant synth rhythms to spectacular effect. Released on her own Vula Viel record label — a company set up by Bex in typical DIY punk fashion — the record earned a Guardian Contemporary album of the month accolade for its rich melding of seemingly divergent styles.

Flock, her most recent collaborative project — produced by Bex and released via Strut Records — is perhaps the percussionist's most ambitious work to date. It features some remarkably intuitive rhythmic interplay between her and Sarathy Korwar, Al MacSween (Maisha), Dan “Danalogue” Leavers (The Comet Is Coming) and Tamar Osborn (Collocutor). The music is a perfect encapsulation of an ever-shifting sound that Bex refers to as ‘messy minimalism'. More collaborative projects are promised soon as Bex's open-hearted, open minded and wide-eyed approach to improvisation continues to break new musical ground. 

There is only love and fear CREDITS

Engineered by Dave Vettraino*
*except engineered by Adrian Garcia (track 11), Ben Lumsdaine (tracks 4, 9), Dave Vettraino and Jordan Parry (track 7)
Mixed by Bex Burch and Dave Vettraino
 Mastered by David Allen
 Edited & Produced by Bex Burch
 Executive Producers Scott McNiece, Dave Vettraino, David Allen Artwork & Design by Jeremiah Chiu
Photos by Bex Burch (front cover) and Chris Almeida (back cover) Obi strip design by Craig Hansen

Recorded for International Anthem at Center for Search & Research (Chicago), Palisade (Chicago), Chicali Outpost (Los Angeles), Bronson Canyon (Los Angeles), Stanglerhof (Italy), Jamie Linwood's house, and various heard sounds from Yorkshire, The Baltic Sea, Berlin, SüdTirol, Wyoming, Chicago and LA.

Photo by Fabian Brennecke

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