An unconventional quartet led by guitarist and banjo player Brandon Seabrook with Henry Fraser on bass, Erica Dicker on violin, and Elias Stemeseder on piano & synth presenting Seabrook's mercurial compositions where chamber lyricism, folk inflection, and avant energy collide, blending cinematic textures with ferocious interplay and surreal narrative drive.
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Sample The Album:
Brandon Seabrook-guitars, banjo
Henry Fraser-bass
Erica Dicker-violin
Elias Stemeseder-piano, synthesizers
Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.
UPC: 199806061817
Label: Pyroclastic Records
Catalog ID: PR 45
Squidco Product Code: 37050
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2026
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at The Bunker Studio, in Brooklyn, New York, by Aaron Nevezie.
"There seems to be an inherent contradiction to Hellbent Daydream, the title of the mesmerizing new album by the restlessly adventurous guitarist and banjoist Brandon Seabrook. The first half of the phrase suggests a manic urgency, a fervor in pursuit of a desperate end. It rests uncomfortably next to a word that evokes a sense of whimsy and aspirational reverie, a momentary escape into a flight of wistful fancy.
Seabrook's music has always thrived on such conceptual collisions, however, and one listen to his audaciously imaginative new quartet album reveals that Hellbent Daydream is an ideal title, no matter how far one is asked to warp one's perspective to grasp its meaning. In Seabrook's mercurial compositions the visceral and the fanciful coexist in a kind of skewed harmony.
Hellbent Daydream marks the debut of an unconventional new quartet, with Seabrook joined by bassist Henry Fraser, violinist Erica Dicker and Elias Stemeseder on piano and synthesizers. The line-up offers Seabrook an expansive and curious palette and collaborators who share his inquisitive instincts. It is an elaboration of a trio that Seabrook has led for the past few years with Fraser - a longtime collaborator in a variety of contexts - and Dicker.
"Henry and Erica blend together so well," Seabrook says, "and after a number of gigs together we discovered that we all shared an amazing chemistry. They both bring an excitement, a verve and an intensity to the music. Then I thought that the addition of Elias' piano and synth would allow the music to become more cinematic and open up some more of the emotional exposition."
This eccentric conglomeration of voices invited a number of wide-ranging influences to swirl together in Seabrook's hazy, fervid musical daydreams. The dark theatrical storytelling of Stephen Sondheim melds with the rich, insinuating harmonies of late-era Beach Boys; Chopinesque chamber romanticism is roughened by the countrified grit of Appalachian folk melody.
The explicit American influence, most evident on "The Arkansas Tattler" - its title a mischievous play on the classic folk tune "The Arkansas Traveler" - is particularly surprising given how fiercely Seabrook has resisted it until now. In the past he approached the banjo in opposition to its traditional context, employing it for blistering, shredding riffery more heavy metal than homespun. That influence isn't wholly absent either, as Seabrook's carnal virtuosity emerges at the overdriven climax of the somnambulent danse macabre "Name Dropping is the Lowest Form of Communication" or in the agitated, monolithic strings of "Existential Banger Infinite Calling."
The dream imagery that recurs in the album's track listing and in its entrancing moods is a guide to the music's surreal logic, a narrative flow that makes an emotional sense if not a linear one. "Human beings are creatures of story," Seabrook concludes. "Experimenting and searching for new ways to tell stories and bring the listener along is important to me. I really wanted this album to dwell in that daydream landscape, still subversive but in a more welcoming atmosphere." "-Pyroclastic
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Brandon Seabrook "Described by Spin Magazine as "An apocalyptic, supersonic general of the banjo..." Brandon Seabrook has made a name for himself in the New York avant-garde music scene as an explosive guitar and banjo performer, relentlessly committed to immediacy and precision. Seabrook honed his terror-inducing riffage skills at the New England Conservatory in Boston. He has since performed extensively in North and South America, Mexico and Europe, as a solo artist, bandleader and collaborator. He has been summoned by the likes of Anthony Braxton, Elliot Sharp and Joey Arias for his unpredictably spiked approach to improvisation and impeccable caterwauling. He has been profiled in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Magnet Magazine, Fretboard Journal, NPR and The Wire. Seabrook Power Plant, the nuclear trio donned "a manic clusterfuck of merciless banjo torture" by the Village Voice, is Brandon's brainchild, blending the brutal energy of punk-rock with the intricate execution of through-composed avant jazz. The band has released two albums to much critical acclaim. Time Out New York praised the band's eponymous debut as "not only one of the most baffling experimental releases of the year... also one of the best." Brandon is an accomplished solo artist, named Best Guitarist in New York City by the Village Voice 2012. In 2014, New Atlantis Records released his first solo album titled Sylphid Vitalizers. Noisey called the album a "dissonant guitar army...(with) mind-blowing prog-rock complexities - all at mind-numbing breakneck speed." Brandon is currently working on two new albums with his noise-prog trio, Needle Driver and a new sextet featuring immoral, percussive compositions under the name Die Trommel Fatale. This recent work is a poly-rhythmic exploration of the dark side of the drum, layering cello, bass, electronics, voice and guitar against dichotomous drummers." ^ Hide Bio for Brandon Seabrook • Show Bio for Henry Fraser "Henry Fraser is a bassist, composer, and improviser from Boston, MA. He received his B.F.A. from New England Conservatory of Music in the spring of 2014, where he studied with Cecil McBee, John McNeil, Anthony Coleman, & Ted Reichman. Since moving to Brooklyn, NY in 2014, Henry's unique combination of technical facility and aesthetic flexibility have made him an in-demand sideman and formidable band leader. Henry has performed throughout Europe and South American, including suchfestivals as the Panama Jazz Fest and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Current projects include Michael Foster's The Ghost, the Chris Pitsiokos Quartet and Maestro Day, a quartet co-lead by saxophonist, Sam Weinberg, as well as regular collaborations with the likes of Joe Morris, Brandon Seabrook and Jack Wright." ^ Hide Bio for Henry Fraser • Show Bio for Erica Dicker "A proponent of new music, Erica Dicker is committed to creative collaboration with living composers and innovation in both the classical concert hall and nontraditional contexts. Erica is a founding member of the contemporary chamber music collective Till By Turning, an ensemble devoted to reinforcing the modern canon and linking educational programs to their repertoire. As part of the New York-based horn trio, Kylwyria, Erica and her colleagues, Julia Den Boer (piano) and John Gattis (horn), work to generate interest in and develop adventurous chamber music repertoire for their unique instrumentation through dynamic programming and commissioning. Erica is also violinist in Katherine Young's Pretty Monsters, as well as Vaster Than Empires, an electro-acoustic collaboration with composer and sound artist Paul Schuette and percussionist Allen Otte. She has premiered works by many composers including solo works written for her by Olivia Block, Turkar Gasimzada, Ryan Ingebritsen and Katherine Young. Erica also writes and performs her own music, exploring the idiomatic modalities and textures of her instrument. Taking Auspices, her debut solo album, is released by Tubapede Records as a digital download and limited edition vinyl LP. Erica serves as concertmaster of Anthony Braxton's Tri-Centric Foundation Orchestra, an ensemble founded to document and disseminate the operas by composer and multi-reedist Anthony Braxton, and has also performed with Braxton's Falling River Quartet and Diamond Curtain Wall Quartet at festivals in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Macedonia, Poland, and Turkey and appeared with the 12 + 1-tet at the 2012 Venice Biennale. Erica also writes about and curates performances of Braxton's work, most recently for the International Contemporary Ensemble at the 2017 Ojai Music Festival. A passionate advocate for preserving the vitality of orchestral performance, Erica also lends her talent to orchestras across the Midwestern United States, such as the Grand Rapids Symphony. She previously served as associate concertmaster of the Peoria Symphony and associate principal second violin of the South Bend Symphony, and held leadership roles in festivals including Spoleto USA and the National Repertory Orchertra. In Germany Erica was part of the Bergische Symphoniker and performed with the Bachakademie Stuttgart International Festival Orchestra under the direction of Helmut Rilling. Erica received her training at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (BM), the University of Minnesota (MM), and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (DMA). Her primary teachers include Gabriel Pegis, Marilyn McDonald, and Jorja Fleezanis. Erica resides in Astoria, New York with her husband and creative collaborator, tubist Dan Peck." ^ Hide Bio for Erica Dicker • Show Bio for Elias Stemeseder "Elias Stemeseder: Born in Salzburg, Austria in 1990, Elias lived in Berlin from 2010 and moved to New York in 2015. Besides his main instrument, the acoustic piano, he also plays synthesizers. He performs in a variety of musical idioms ranging from the song-oriented music of Jim Black's trio to contemporary classical pieces by John Zorn to the electric music of Eyebone. Current projects include collaborations with John Zorn (John Zorn's Bagatelles), the Greg Cohen Quintet, Philipp Gropper's "Philm", Jim Black's "Malamute" Anna Webber's "Percussive Mechanics", Robert Landfermann Quintet and "OTIS+WEDDING". Elias Stemeseder has performed solo concerts at the Nuoro Jazz Festival (IT), Haus Der Berliner Festspiele (DE), 12points Festival Dublin (IRL) and Südtirol Jazzfestival (IT). He leads a Berlin - based quartet with Eldar Tsalikov, Igor Spallati and Ugo Alunni and co-leads the bands Jagged Spheres (with Anna Webber and Devin Gray) and Eyebone (with Nels Cline and Jim Black). Since 2008 Elias has been working extensively with the American drummer Jim Black. The Jim Black trio (with Thomas Morgan on double bass) has released the critically acclaimed recordings Somatic and Actuality on the German label Winter&Winter Recordings and The Constant on the Swiss label Intakt Records. In 2013, Elias formed the collective trio "Eyebone" with Jim Black and guitarist Nels Cline, in which he plays the Wurlitzer piano and bass synthesizers. Elias has received scholarships and grants from SKE/austro mechana and BKA Österreich Kunst und Kultur." ^ Hide Bio for Elias Stemeseder
3/4/2026
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3/4/2026
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
3/4/2026
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
3/4/2026
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Name Dropping is the Lowest Form of Conversation 05:22
2. Bespattered Bygones 06:53
3. Hellbent Daydream 03:58
4. I'm a Nightmare and You Know It 08:22
5. Existential Banger Infinite Ceiling 06:59
6. The Arkansas Tattler 05:22
7. Autopsied Cloudburst 06:27
March 2026
Improvised Music
Jazz
Jazz & Improvisation Based on Compositions
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Quartet Recordings
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