Robert Lundberg – "by passing upon"
Moving Through Water and Structure
With "by-passing-upon", bassist and composer Ro(b)//ert Lundberg adds a new chapter to his multifaceted work. The album, set for release on October 24, 2025, by AKP Recordings, navigates between ambient soundscapes, minimalist frameworks, and experimental improvisation.
"'by-passing-upon' continues my long-running watery fascinations, here with a central fixation on the curb stop",
Robert explains. Curb stops—small metal covers in pavements—mark the shut-off valves of water pipes, and in the U.S., often denote the boundary between state and private infrastructure. The artist adds:
"In noticing, reading, photographing, moving, and music-making, curb stops have acted as reminders to ponder the ways water moves with and against real and imaginary boundaries created by humans."
Sound Palette and Ensemble
Robert Lundberg's work draws from an unusual mix of instruments and objects: double bass, cello, clarinet, drums, synthesizer, water-filled vessels, and even masking tape. These sources fuse into textures of flowing, bubbling motifs, driving rhythms, and ambient layers. Here is how he describes his approach:
"While the score provides fairly circumscribed pitch and rhythmic material, I chose my collaborators knowing they would thrive in these bounds—and occasionally ignore them to wonderful effect."
This makes pretty much sense to me since you can hear the musicians exploring the "flows, pools, and clouds" of the score, navigating the delicate balance between composition and improvisation.
From Live Performance to Recording
"by-passing-upon" originates from a live performance at Constellation in Chicago. Alongside musicians—Lia Kohl (cello & synthesizer), Jeff Kimmel (bass clarinet & synthesizer), and Sam Scranton (percussion)—movement artists Nina Vroemen, Jasmine Mendoza, and Zachary Nicol contributed. Ladders, coloured tape, kettles, and other props transformed the score's infrastructural concepts into a four-dimensional stage experience.
"One of my interests in this project is bringing the score to the audience. Acknowledging it not only as a document carrying information for the performers, but also as an aesthetic object that can help expand a listener and viewer's experience of what I'm sharing",
Robert explains.
Structure, Improvisation, and Moments of Silence
The album opens with meditative hums and hypnotic cello swells, gradually unfolding into layered rhythms and melodic motifs. The score encourages navigation through "flows, pools, and clouds". At times, these soundscapes settle, revealing sparse, almost conversational passages between instruments.
"These lulls serve as a foil to the busier parts of the record, a refreshing slow sip",
the artist notes.
Improvised solos add tension and unexpected ruptures to the ensemble textures. Distorted tones crackle between steady bass lines, swirling percussion, and wandering clarinet before the album fades into layered tones—like an ouroboros returning to its beginning, but with subtle shifts that highlight change within the familiar.
Visual Expansion: The Artist Book
Accompanying the album is an artist book that expands the visual and thematic world of "by-passing-upon". Over 100 pages, Lundberg's photographs of curb stops are paired with a poetic narrative unfolding line by line, page by page.
"From walking city streets with my canine kin Moser, to noticing drainage ditches and curb stops, many activities keep my eyes focused downwards. Walking offers me a good tempo to get to know a place, taking in the details in my surroundings",
he shares, reflecting on the creative process that connects urban infrastructure, water, and music.
An Invitation on a Journey for All Senses
"by-passing-upon" invites listeners on a sensory and intellectual journey through water, sound, and space, oscillating between structure and freedom. Lundberg transforms overlooked elements, such as curb stops, into poetic musical forms, elegantly dissolving the boundary between composition and improvisation.
You can get your foretaste of "by-passing-upon" by watching the video of the live performance of "flowing 2"
