“Muzosynth Orchestra: Vol. 1” is the culmination of countless collaborations and friendships into one synthesis. It features pioneering artist-leaders who have worked with Muzosynth Orchestra, a New York City collective of Black, Brown, and Asian artists founded by Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim and Joey Chang, focused in multidisciplinary improvisation.  

The New York City experimental music scene has been Lim’s home for years now. The South Korean violinist/composer’s previous album, Starling, garnered praise for its “heart-lifting” sound, reminiscent of “expanses” and “sunrises”, and was recognized as Bandcamp’s Album of the Day and its single “As It All Goes By” as one of Paste Magazine’s Best New Songs.  

Meanwhile, following the completion of his college studies in 2018, Chang, a Taiwanese-American pianist turned composer and producer, turned away from his intensive study in European classical traditions to creative soulsearching. Seeking identity and heritage in his relationship to the piano and music as a whole, he emerged with his distinctly visceral sound and joined with Lim to cofound Muzosynth Orchestra.  

“Muzosynth Orchestra: Vol. 1” harnesses the potential of creative freedom to make new playspaces and develop ideas that would never have arisen before. Each track was recorded spontaneously. No pre-chosen themes, no ideas - each one an unknown journey that the artists led each other into. Untethered from frameworks, they embrace collages, jarring juxtapositions, and intensified emotions.

The artists’ creative liberties call upon the freedoms their musicmaking stand for, restorative freedom to Black, Brown, and Indigenous peoples, autonomous freedom to Trans and queer people, protective freedom to vulnerable immigrants, cultural freedom of Asian, non-white and all historically persecuted and homogenized communities, and the liberation of all peoples under apartheid and neo-colonial suffocation.

Directed by Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim and Joey Chang  
Adrienne Baker, flute/fx
Jared Beckstead-Craan, double Bass
Joey Chang, piano
Joy Guidry, bassoon/voice/electronics
Kengchakaj Kengkarnka, electronics
Scott Li, violin/electronics
Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim, violin/fx
Cleo Reed, voice/electronics
Kobi Trenchfoot, drums
Brad Walrond, voice
Recorded at the Jazz Gallery
Engineered by Kengchakaj Kengkarnka
Post-production by Joey Chang
Mixed & mastered by Lee Meadvin
Photo by Jesse L. Kearse IV