Mouse on Mars, the Berlin-based duo of Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner, return with Dimensional People, their most inventive album to date, out April 13. The album finds Mouse on Mars reunited with Thrill Jockey, an aesthetic partnership marked by albums including Idiology (2001), Radical Connector (2004), and Niun Niggung (2000). The lead single, “Dimensional People Part III” features Justin Vernon, one of many collaborators on the album. Other collaborators include Aaron and Bryce Dessner (The National), Zach Condon (Beirut), Spank Rock, Swamp Dogg, Eric D. Clark, Lisa Hannigan, Amanda Blank, Sam Amidon, and Ensemble Musikfabrik.
Following a series of dance floor releases, Dimensional People reveals Mouse on Mars working deep within their own vernacular, digging into their inexhaustible vault of digital and acoustic experimentation, and charismatically making elemental components new again. This album makes clear how their craft is of discovery, of finding new contexts for places, sounds, memories, sensations, ambiences, technologies, relationships, and of course, people.
Dimensional People gives each participating guest a platform to imprint the album as whoever or whatever they want to be: a narrator, a perfect moment, a jam, an ensemble member, an abstract sound, a multiple persona, a mood, a soloist. Originally premiering as a spatial composition using object-based mixing technology that plays with possibilities of sonic design and collective musicianship, the Dimensional People recording expands upon these ideas. It is a conceptual puzzle composed around one harmonic spectrum within one rhythmic scheme, mostly in the tempo of 145bpm (inspired by Chicago Footwork).
In the months to come, Dimensional People will be realized through installation, presenting the work as an immersive listening experience, as well as performance.