Backworld (USA)

Source: Wonderlous Music

‘Hauntingly beautiful’ may best describe the music of Backworld, yet this hardly encapsulates the full complement of lyrical imagery, captivating soundscapes, and emotional textures in this body of work. Imagine ‘an atmospheric journey of thoughts and memories’, ‘loving shadows of gentle trees’, ‘glimpses of paradise lost’, ‘riding a bike through a sunny meadow’, and ‘tales of good and evil, swaying between intimate and epic’. Ethereal harmonies, mesmerizing vocals, acoustic arrangements of guitars, strings, percussion, flutes, and electronics, adornments of hammered dulcimer, clarinet, and bodrahn, and lyrical themes concerned with ecstatic religious yearnings and otherworldly visions – welcome to the musical creations of Joseph Budenholzer, composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and founder of Backworld.

Budenholzer grew up in Nebraska, immersed in the rural lore and religious traditions of the region, attending parochial school where he was taught by nuns to play the guitar for folk Mass. He worked for years as composer in residence at The Omaha Magic Theatre, an offshoot of The Open Theatre in New York. Moving to New York City’s East Village in the mid-1980s he performed at St Mark’s Poetry Project and began collaborating with dance performer Brian Moran, aka Blood Boy, creating sampled soundscapes for confrontational Actionist assaults. This led to the Cinema of Transgression scene where he worked with filmmakers Richard Kern, Beth B, and Tessa Hughs-Freeland, and composer JG Thirlwell (Foetus). Eventually a series of collaborations with Lydia Lunch resulted, culminating in the double CD, Matrikamantra, a work of psycho-acoustic theatre in the form of an homage to Romanian philosopher-poet EM Cioran. In 1990 he enrolled in NYU’s Gallatin Division, focusing on Eastern European theatre, traveling to study in Russia and Bulgaria, and later touring Poland and the Czech Republic.

Budenholzer formed Backworld in 1993, owing to his passion for English folk music, minimalist composition, and religious mysticism. After joining forces with World Serpent Distribution (London) in 1995, four studio albums resulted, traversing the genres of apocalyptic folk and neofolk: Holy Fire (1996), Isles of the Blest (1997), Anthems from the Pleasure Park (1999) and Of Silver Sleep (2001). Three additional albums followed: The Fourth Wall (2001 live at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London), Good Infection (2007), and most recently, Come The Bells (2011).

Backworld’s albums and early performances at CBGB’s 313 Gallery and the NYU Experimental Theatre Wing, and more recently at the DOM Cultural Center (Moscow), House Leipzig (Germany), Grandson Castle (Switzerland), Bloomsbury Theatre and St. Olave’s Church (London), and St. Mary’s Cathedral (Glasgow) have featured a changing roster of players guided by Budenholzer’s consistent vision. Contributors to Backworld’s albums have included Isobel Campbell (Belle & Sebastian / Gentle Waves), Jarboe (Swans), David Tibet and Michael Cashmore (Current 93), Drew McDowall (Coil / Captain Sons and Daughters), and Julia Kent (Rasputina). Other notable collaborations include playing in Current 93 and co-writing and producing the Little Annie album Songs From The Coal Mine Canary with Antony Hegarty (Antony and The Johnsons).

The masterpieces Beautiful Dream, Of Silver Sleep, Immaculate Child, Leaves of Autumn, and The Devil’s Plaything give you just a taste of the sublime beauty to be found in Backworld’s work, and there is so much more to be explored.