In the vast expanse of a 30-year music writing career, the occurrence of being sent an actual, full-on virtual reality headset to review an album is a rare event. With "immersive" remaining a buzzword in contemporary art and music circles, it was inevitable that such a technological leap would occur. Brian Baumbusch's fascinating new long-form composition, Polytempo Music, stands out by transcending gimmicky VR hype and creating a vibrant, interactive musical world that feels organic, essential, and alive with ideas. He is paving the way with a new label, Holography Records, enabling other artists to work with this unique spatialized audio-visual technology.

Unlock a Musical Universe with Polytempo Music

Entering Baumbusch's Musical World

Inside Polytempo Music, one doesn't simply feel like an observer; one becomes an integral part of it. The gorgeously swirling animation and playful interactive features allow you to shape each sound as you progress. Colors are perfectly matched with constantly playing instruments whose volume and relation to your position can be manipulated, offering a virtually infinite number of experiences. It's a delightful blend of fun and philosophy, visually dazzling even for those with a natural aversion to technology.This self-contained yet densely complex work reflects Baumbusch's minimalist-experimental roots and his obsession with how music can bend time in diverse ways. Divided into 12 sections of different moodiness and intensity, such as "Trifluence," "Heliks 45," and "Murmuration of 12," each title adds a poetic and descriptive dimension to the already four-dimensional work, captivating and delighting the listener.

Baumbusch's Journey into Electronic Music

Baumbusch's foray into the electronic music realm began when he realized that automated click tracks could synchronize musicians more effectively when tackling his dense scores. Scoring in standard staff notation was challenging with live musicians, so he decided to explore more advanced techniques. Using click tracks eliminated the need for constant timekeeping and broke down the typical rehearsal culture. This led him to embrace technology more and start down a path of hyper-complex polytempo structures in his music.In 2015, he took this step and never looked back. The pandemic in 2020 accelerated his digital transformation. He received a big commission through UC Santa Cruz for a wind ensemble piece and decided to record it remotely using click tracks. This experience led him to further explore the idea of musicians recording their parts separately and spatiallyizing the composition.

Creating the Virtual Musical Ensemble

Baumbusch had no prior experience with VR headsets or software coding. He reached out to experts in the audio-visual world, such as game audio specialist and jazz pianist Scott Looney, who introduced him to Unity. With Polytempo Music, he gamified the musical ensemble, learning from weekly lessons with Looney and with the help of ChatGPT to build a virtual world. Different instrumental lines were assigned specific colors, movements, and positions based on spatial relations.Although LiDAR scanning of the musicians proved too cumbersome, the resulting Polytempo Music package is captivating. Physically moving around inside the virtual reality program was an exhilarating experience. Baumbusch hopes to bring this experience to a wider audience through live performances by licensed musicians, adding their own spatial audio-visual twists.There is so much potential with this platform to enhance the live concert experience, from adding fresh visual elements to electronic DJ sets to enabling full interaction between live musicians and audiences in a virtual space. Baumbusch realized that he was building an engine just to hear one piece of music and saw the potential for using it for other projects.POLYTEMPO MUSIC is available via Holography records and online app stores.