Composer Stephen Emmer unveils Mt Mundane, an epic journey of overcoming personal crisis, for orchestra, piano and treble. As of now you can order the Luxury Edition of the new Mt. Mundane album, which comes as a jewel case, including a full color 8 page booklet and 3 Bonus Tracks.
Click here to order your copy of the Luxury Edition now.
Emmer is a renowned Dutch composer, arranger, and artist from Amsterdam, who has been a prominent figure in the international music scene since the 1970’s. Mt. Mundane is undoubtedly one of Emmer's most opulent and personal works; the project was recorded in 2024 at Abbey Road Studios, with a lineup of over 30 musicians and in collaboration with international music stars such as Anthony Weeden (The Lordof the Rings: The Rings of Power), Andrew Dudman (The Lord of the Rings trilogy), Grammy Award-winning choral conductor Nigel Short, pianist Ben Dawson, and treble Joshua Davidson.
In creating Mt. Mundane, Emmer set his life to music and in the process, came to terms with a drastic experience: the loss of hearing in his left ear, which posed an existential threat to him as a musician and composer. His experience of hearing loss led him to found the Artists Against Tinnitus foundation, to raise awareness for the hearing-related issues that musicians face.
The album symbolises the many crises that individuals can overcome, no matter how impossible they may initially seem; a message of hope and optimism that Emmer aims to convey to his audience and those who also face life-altering situations. The music is a true tapestry of Emmer’s identity, incorporating melodies that have been with him since the early days of his career over 45 years ago. He weaves these enduring themes into stunning symphonic compositions, enriched by the insights and creativity of his current artistic phase.
Mt. Mundane comprises a total of 15 'cinematic adagios: Emmer chose the adagio movement for its ability to convey music in the most personal manner, using a musical suite's most stately movement as a model in order to convey the many elements of grief in a pared-down manner, including moments of despair, hope, regret, and gratitude.
In the process he drew inspiration from French composers of the post-impressionist era, such as André Caplet, Lili Boulanger, Ravel, and Debussy, each renowned for their vividly colourful fauvist orchestrations and refined harmonisations.
“In my search for meaning I wanted to get in touch again with my younger self and started a musical dialogue with it to see if I, also musically, was still on the the right track in life and did stay true to myself.” - [Stephen Emmer]
Listen to 'In Search of Meaning' on your favorite platform here
Release of Stephen Emmer's recent immersive audio cinematic experience Maison Melody in both the binaural and audio format.
Listen to the Stereo version on your favorite platform here.
Listen to the Binaural version on your favorite platform here.
Stephen Emmer invites listeners To Become The Composer with Dolby Atmos endorsed immersive album Maison Melody AM:PM.
For centuries the halls of composers have remained an elusive and hallowed field – hidden playgrounds that have produced some of the most important works of art known to man. Wouldn’t you want to know what it is really like inside?
Award-winning composer, producer, and qualitative market leader of mediamusic in the Benelux, Stephen Emmer welcomes audiences to a transformative audio experience.
Maison Melody AM:PM is one of the world’s first spatial neo-classical concept-albums in the cutting-edge Dolby Atmos format. Listeners are transported into the world of the composer as they explore the synergy between the pieces the composer creates and the space that he inhabits.
It is with pride and joy that I here like to offer to you my new album called Maison Melody, an instrumental music-project performed on piano and strings and indie-released on a non-profit basis.
For centuries now a music-composer prefers to work in solitude on his creations and often the only 'companion' in this process is the direct environment, his/her house. The composer develops a special relationship with the house through his creations and this way finds his desire for quietude, the peace of mind so essential to the mental work of composition. Historically music-composers always have distanced themselves from busy communal places in order to be able to better hear their own inner voice that can lead to a more thorough artistic self-expression. In this hyper-focus mode the relationship of yourself with your direct environment, your house, becomes your partner in crime. This way you create at home by travelling in your own mind and tapping in to your own imagination without external distractions.
And this is exactly how I, about a year ago, composed my most personal and introspective melodies so far in the confinements of my own house and therefore this album project is called Maison Melody.
The Wilroy remix EP came about after Emmer was listening in to Mary Anne Hobbs radio show on 6 music, she played an abstract soul track by a talented Canadian born artist called Wilroy. The experimental music made such a wonderful and everlasting impression on Stephen, that he decided to reach out and ask Wilroy if he would be interested in re-working six tracks from his Home Ground album.
“The incredible remix has offered a radical change harmonically. I believe Wilroy is the best remixer of today!” (Stephen Emmer)
Wilroy was recently selected by Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Music talent discovery initiative Future Bubblers, his track 4F3D63 Hex is featured on the latest compilation. Talking to Clash Magazine he said “Prince was a huge inspiration to the track and I incorporated many elements that are considered hallmarks of his mid-80s output”. Wilroy’s music has also been played on BBC Radio 6, 1Xtra, Worldwide FM & Bandcamp Weekly.
Stephen Emmer’s latest musical offering Home Ground combines the eloquence of spiritual, orchestral soul music with socially conscious lyrics. It addresses contemporary concerns within the timeless musical excellence of classic soul combined with the sonic impact of the 21st century. The Home Ground songs are vocally performed by a careful selection of musical icons from the last 5 decades.
Featured artists include Chaka Khan, Patti Austin, Leon Ware, Mary Griffin, Frank McComb, Kendra Foster, Dwight Trible, Andy Bey and last but certainly not least Ursula Rucker.
The main lyrical thrust of Home Ground is the world that is in constant conflict or war, whether over land, religion or race; this is about poor against rich, justice against injustice, and the myriad other ongoing conflicts that beset our world.
For Home Ground Stephen received both the Golden Global Music Award 2017 as well as the Humanitarian Award 2018. Home Ground was nominated in the category Best Album at the 16th annual Independent Music Awards. At the IMA event held at the Lincoln Centre in New York City, Stephen Emmer’s ‘Soil’ featuring Ursula Rucker won both the voxpop and professionally judged award in the category Best Spoken Word Song!
Stream, download or buy Home Ground on CD or Vinyl here.
Once upon a time, there existed a breed of singers who didn’t need AutoTune: they could bend, shape and twist their voices any way they wanted to. Dutch Composer Stephen Emmer, a passionate aficionado of this great genre has brought together a collective of supreme voices, creating an album of days gone by Bond-esque proportions.
International Blue pays tribute to the lost art and elegance of pop-crooning, and thus to the people who Stephen considers the style's main architects, Scott Walker and David Bowie. Stephen has again had the pleasure and honor of working with Tony Visconti, David Bowie’s long time collaborator, who produced the album at Abbey Road Studios (London) and Avator Studios (NYC).
Featuring artists include Midge Ure (Ultravox), Neil Crossley (Furlined), Liam McKahey (Cousteau) and Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17), who was recently invited by both Tony Visconti and David Bowie to vocally perform the ‘The Man Who Sold The World’ live tour in the UK. The mighty Glenn Gregory plays a key roll in the IB project, since he collaborated on 4 out of 10 album songs.
Stream, download or buy International Blue on CD or Vinyl here.
Recitement is an exciting mix of music and spoken word.
The combination of pop music and spoken word is a phenomenon in the music history. Recitement contains 17 different compositions in 7 different languages and styles, arranged and composed by composer, arranger and musician Stephen Emmer. Recitement can be characterized as both retro avant garde and accessible.
On Recitement everything comes together: past and present, death and life, writers and singers, poems and music. Is it Spoken Word Pop? Is it a contemporary audiobook? Or is it music album? Recitement is all of the preceding.
The album is mixed and mastered in NYC by Tony Visconti and features several musical performers such as Blonde Redhead singer Kazu Makino, jazzmusician Benjamin Herman, legendary pianist Mike Garson (Bowie, Smashing Pumpkins), classical singer Maja Roodveldt, old school rapper Shyrock, Joost Kroon of New Cool Collective and popduo Bauer.
Vocal performers are Lou Reed, Allen Ginsberg, Sylvia Kristel (Emanuelle), Kurt Schwitters, Jorge Luis Borges, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Michael Lonsdale, Sacha de Boer, Ken Nordine and Richard Burton.
Literary sourcetexts are from Charles Baudelaire, Yoko Ono, Samuel Beckett, Alessandro Baricco, Christopher Fry, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Paul Theroux, Victoria Ocampo, Remco Campert, Hugo Claus and Thomas Hardy.
Stream, download or buy Recitement on CD here.
The idea behind the mini album was to create a soundtrack for an imaginary film, featuring Dirk Bogarde. The late Billy Mackenzie (The Associates) appears on ‘Wish on’, where the legendary Michael Dempsey (The Cure) and Martha Ladly (Martha and The Muffins) also appear.
"If it was a film.... the opening would be in the mountains, the credits rolling over firm trees as pretty piano melodies float by. 'Wish on' is an altogether darker affair with rasping, hunted cello laid under discordant chords whilst Billy thunders away like an outtake from 'Sulk'. Conversation with him seems futile so we hide behind a tree until he vanishes in a burst of falsetto. But there is light amongst the trees in the shape of ‘Eleven And Then Left', following the pretty melody to the edge of the forest, where we discover a lonely, abandoned Martha singing her heart out. And there the film gets cut…"
Vogue Estate, as originally released on Idiot Records back in 1982, recently got re-mastered by Stephen Emmer at Zownd Studios (Leiden), resulting in a fresh and now sounding timeless masterpiece of new wave.
It features mostly instrumental music that made use of the latest electronic instruments of it’s time such as the synth-clavier, emulator, mirage, TR 808 and Linn Drum next to acoustical instruments such as the cello and the grand piano.
Two tracks are with vocals from the late Billy McKenzie and Martha Ladly, and the album was co-produced by Flood (Nick Cave, Depeche Mode, U2, Smashing Pumpkins, a.o.) and Michael Dempsey (The Cure) in the legendary Trident Studios in London.
Stream, download or buy the Original Vogue Estate Vinyl here.
