Presented in 3 x colour letter pressed kraft covers, 13 vintage animal coloured prints (sugar paper), heavy card stock letter pressed 12 x 12 (3 colour) insert (hand numbered on back), hand picked red leaves… All wrapped in luxury brown waxed paper. The whole thing then rests inside letter pressed/numbered envelopes. Two hundred copies for the world!
“We wanted to create something special for this project, something psychedelic: something that bridges the gap between the Maps and Diagrams & Atlantis output and Genoveva’s previous vocal work. It’s an exploratory, elemental union that includes a significant, immersive and expressive vocal narrative. The overall theme of light and hope is perhaps not so apparent on the first few listens because the vocals are full of hidden mystery. However, its nascent sense of optimism does become apparent the more you listen to it, essentially it’s a journey of hope” – Tim Diagram / Genoveva – May 2013.
Bluhm is the exquisite outcome of six months of collaboration between intelligent musical innovator Tim Diagram and enigmatic Macedonian songstress Genoveva. The album’s genesis began with Tim putting down basic unforced song structures. The musical production side utilises his trademark palette of drone, delay, reverb, discord, distortion, tape effects and granular synthesis. All consciously crafted with the light, ardour and purity that is always associated with his oeuvre.
These primary melodies were presented to Genoveva, who then added her seraphic vocals. Both protagonists contributed to the powerful and inspirational lyrical content of the work that exposes glimpses of the beauty and significance of true reflection. The album plays out like a journey of personal sacrifice and self-development. These artists bring swathes of emotional intelligence to the table, and this comes out in vocals which ebb and flow with a haunting poetic melancholy. There’s a strong sense of attachment to each of the songs, all of which possess dynamic emotive themes. There are tales of despair, of isolation, of staring into the abyss and being lost inside your own mind, chased by your own monsters and demons.
Both contributors view music as being a key element of their lives, and of their ultimate salvation. They find a release in creativity and relate to each other’s challenges and dilemmas. So this work is also the story of a blossoming friendship, one that was generated through a complete love and utter devotion to music. There is no formula to any of the songs, it all pieced together organically as the work progressed, with little or no arrangement with the vocals, they are as they were sung.
All of humanity can relate to the life-changing experiences that are so eloquently documented here. The effort of coming to terms with life’s ups and downs, the semiotic visions of self-pity, the torment, the psychotic episodes, the desire for acceptance; and above all, the hope of an eventual salvation that can only be gained through respective responsibility and inestimable self-effort.
Bluhm is pure euphoria; it leaves one feeling wholesome inside as its emotional and sensual overtones induce an altered sense of self-realisation. Sentient soundscapes of virtue and lucidity create a fabulous feeling of solid inner strength that permeates every fibre of human existence. Overcome by the profundity of the experience one will be fully prepared to dare to live one’s life once again.