Words by David C. Obenour
So much of the human condition is a struggle to understand. To be presented with something we immediately and almost imperceptibly process through ways that are familiar. We listen to music and genre-ify it. This goes beyond simple classification – what section it belongs at in the record store – but overlays an implied understanding of the artist, the audience, and the complete experience.
Which makes EMILY RACH BEISEL’s Sumptuous Branching confounding on a number of levels. Inspired by late medieval chant, the Chicago-based improviser uses bass clarinet, vocals, piccolo, and electronics in ways sometimes unconventional and other times indiscernible. Songs heard in isolation could be considered classical, experimental, or drone, but when heard together they demands further understanding.
Off Shelf: You talk about Sumptuous Branching as being born from medieval chant. Where did this inspiration for you come from? What took it from an interest to an album?
EMILY RACH BEISEL: The biggest particular inspiration for this record is Guillaume de Machaut’s Messe de Nostre Dame. This was the first time a single composer set the entire Ordinary of the Mass and it’s a gorgeous and strange work. There is no single mode or melodic element that binds it beyond its stylistic nature. Machaut was exploring more independence between voices, multiple lines happening at once, both independent and interconnected. I took the form of the piece as the structure for my own record – six movements – and I included an introit. I also took the idea of many voices running at once, and having these floating moments of synchrony within the complexity. Each track has at two or more lines or voices happening at once. The task of creating these textures as a single performer was a really provocative challenge for me.
OS: You also talk about it having a “wild freedom and rich density”, can you expound on that? How do you think that you were able to capture and further explore that within a contemporary context?
ERB: The rules weren’t set in stone at this time – the Middle Ages were giving way to the Renaissance and artists were experimenting and rejoicing in trying new techniques. You hear descant in multiple voices, strange passing dissonance, textures were you can’t pick out a single melody but are left with a sense of bubbling energy. I’m really pleased with how this translated into the work on Sumptuous Branching. I was also playing with new techniques, for example using the bass clarinet pickup to amplify and effect my piccolo, breath and voice on “Her Still Singing Limbs”.
OS: I wanted you to talk about the percussive sounds you get from your wind instruments, the sounds of the instrument being played. How do you think including this audio fidelity adds to the experience of your music?
ERB: The way that I amplify the bass allows me to use a lot of those “incidental” sounds that you otherwise wouldn’t hear. I love these sounds and this was a big impetus for me diving into amplification and electronics. I’m also a big fan of the fascination that comes with being unable to locate the source of a sound. That acousmatic element is something I really appreciate as a listener and I hope to offer others. Folks often come up to look at my pedal board when I finish playing – looking for the source of some of the sounds they heard and I hope to leave them guessing!
OS: I can’t get over how much I love Cantilevers”. Can you talk about the effects and distortions you were doing on “Cantilevers”? Or more broadly, what appeals to you about the melody and dissonance of the sounds?
ERB: I’m so touched – thank you! In “Cantilevers” I’m layering a lot of effects including pitch shifting and manipulating the modular rhythmic pulse using an expression pedal as I change pitches or breath. The track is improvised so it changes each time I perform it, but I have a loose “chant melody” that I’m riffing on. I also love this track. I think it best captures what I imagine chant can be in a contemporary context – including the elements of dissonance and powerful energy.
OS: Particularly, the bass sounds just kick in so heavy and full. It almost feels organ like. How do you get that sound?
ERB: As a wind player, I get so much joy playing with this sound! It’s as close as I can come to playing electric bass as a clarinetist. Drop octave all day! (laughs) I’ve worked very hard to keep the wooden warmth of the bass clarinet in this tone. It’s a combination of several pedals – distortion alone obliterated that tone so it’s been a process to develop the right peal combination over the years.
OS: You also bring the breathwork to the front in a way that feels pronounced. How do you see this as contributing to the experience of your music?
ERB: Hm… well, we all have to breath! So I think it’s an immediate connection to the sound, something we experience bodily. There is a lot of emotion in breath – I hope for it to feel soothing and loving at times – especially at the end of this record. To ease you in and out. Other times it’s jagged or harsh – maybe sweeping you along or warning you of something to come – “Cantilevers” or “To Rise in Arms”. It’s also the lifeblood of the instruments that I play, so I’m always working with breath. I also love it has a source of pure noise and this is another way that it’s utilized in this record.
OS: How important are practical effects and distortions as opposed to electric or digital? How are they different and what do you see as the strengths or weaknesses?
ERB: I do use a lot of extended instrumental techniques and it’s the combination with the pedals that I especially find interesting. The weakness of an effects pedal is that it can easily be an on/off switch that feels separate from the instrument. I’m interested in how the pedal can instead can an extension of the instrument – how it can meld with and broaden the territory of what is possible acoustically.
OS: Without being too impossible of a question, are there any other sounds or instances that stick out to you on the album? Things that just really resonate with what you were going for in writing and recording?
ERB: Hm… I really like the vocal part of “Introit”. This is the first time I’ve done straight singing with text on a record and it felt very liberating to me. I love the single moment in, “We Who Behold the Bright Surface” when everything shifts into a really high register, around minute 1:50. That’s another improvised track and that moment really hits for me. In “Her Still Singing Limbs” I really like how the piccolo tone comes through and the ghostly quality of the electronics on that track. To me it feels like other voices in a choir shifting around a soloist. And honestly, I really love the title track. It’s certainly the most straightforward on the record but playing and listening to it always feels so good to my heart!
OS: Have you performed these songs live yet? How is that experience different? What are the parameters set in performance from having these recordings and arrangements?
ERB: Yes, I toured this material in the spring of 2025 and then recorded it when I came back. It was a new process for me, doing things in that order and I really liked it. Since I had dialed the material in on the road, laying it down in the studio was easy – one or two tracks were done in a single take. The record is intended to be listened to in its entirety; it’s meant to function as a unified whole, and I perform it that way. Everything on the record can be performed live. On the release tour this spring, I’ll be performing the album in its entirety.
OS: Your press release mentions that you are a member of the AFM Local 10-208. Are you active in your union? What would you like to tell us and other musicians about unionization?
ERB: I am an active union member and have been for over ten years now. As a working musician, I’ve benefited from the Chicago union fighting for wage increases and protections such as mandatory breaks, overtime fees and safe working conditions. One thing I’d like to see is an expansion of who the union helps and protects. There have been some efforts in Chicago to make union membership more accessible and to spread the benefit of the union to musicians who aren’t playing either in the big theaters, clubs, or major orchestras in town. The more solidarity that exists the harder it is to break a union!