Orchids by Eli Greenhoe and Hans Bilger

Two of the leading voices in the intersection of acoustic pop music and the avant-garde, Eli Greenhoe and Hans Bilger have teamed up for the fascinating collaboration Orchids. Combining achingly delicate songcraft clothed in gorgeous arrangements showcasing their backgrounds in classical and New Music, Orchids’ 10 songs burst with instrumental and vocal color to enchant, delight, and challenge listeners from a broad swath of tastes and backgrounds.

Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, Greenhoe has made his name as a composer of contemporary classical music in addition to his work as a songwriter; his concert works have been commissioned and performed by Contemporaneous, the Bergamot Quartet, Aki Takahashi, and S.E.M. Ensemble among others. He was awarded a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was a finalist in the Beth Morrison Projects “Next Generation” program.

Also from Brooklyn, Hans Bilger is a sought-after bassist, composer, songwriter, and recording engineer who captivatingly fuses his expertise in the science of sound with his techniques in the recording studio. His doctoral dissertation in bioacoustics focused on the evolution of the voice in frogs, bats, and humans, and he has published scientific papers on musical structure in birdsong and the anatomy of the avian voice box. He is currently the composer-in-residence for Brooklyn-based dance company Cora Dance and a Visiting Scientist at Berlin’s Museum für Naturkunde.

But the two have also been writing folk songs together since they were children, gradually mixing them with influences from their other disciplines. Under the moniker Airborne Charlie, the duo released their eponymous debut album in 2020, which was called, “A record that recalls the memories you’ve forgotten… Listening is like stumbling onto a Super-8 reel of your formative moments, rendered with the intimacy and pathos of a Bildungsroman.”

Orchids uses that ability to reach something essential in the listener as a starting point while also expanding their sonic palette in extraordinary new directions. ‘Bird & Branch’, the album’s first single, is a perfect encapsulation of their new project: Elliott Smith-esque guitars make way for pillowy strings performed by the Oriel and Bergamot string quartets with Fabiana Striffler’s clarion violin and mandolin at the fore. “Something about her sensibility on the violin often reminds me of a songbird,” Bilger notes. “She can create this playful, flitting energy on the instrument that feels very unique.” Fans of Nick Drake and Rufus Wainwright will rejoice; cosseted in the sound of warm strings and vocal harmonies, the song makes an impression that lasts.

‘So Long Lover’, the duo’s 2nd single, continues along this path; here, touches of musique concrète ornament the chamber textures, placing the song at once in contact with folk music and the avant-garde. The ensemble is augmented with electric baritone guitar, synthesizer, drums (ably provided by San Fermin’s Griffin Brown), and a sample of a USO Broadcast, all above those glorious strings and acoustic guitars.

The sound of natural, lived in spaces permeates every note of the recording. “Orchids was tracked in myriad spaces, almost none of them recording studios,” the duo adds. “There was the balcony of a Brooklyn church, the creaky kitchen of a cottage in Vermont, the Berlin dance studio that just happened to house a nine-foot Bösendorfer.”

Working this way came naturally to Eli Greenhoe and Hans Bilger. The sound of the room, and the invitation to the listener to join them there, is as integral to the project as the instrumentation itself. And those rooms – filled with organic, human textures – resound with music, gorgeous music. “The goal of this album was to place affecting, incisive songs within a grand, imaginary world of orchestration and texture, both impossibly large and exquisitely detailed,” the pair say. Hear for yourself, on Adhyâropa Records (USA).