Bruce Hornsby & yMusic’s BrhyM Enter ‘Deep Blue’ On Lead Single From Collaborative ‘Deep Sea Vents’ Album

Bruce Hornsby and yMusic joined forces under the BrhyM moniker to create their debut collaborative album together, Deep Sea Vents, which arrives via Zappo Productions/Thirty Tigers on March 1. The acclaimed pianist/composer and experimental chamber ensemble previewed the upcoming 10-track effort by sharing its lead single, “Deep Blue.”

yMusic — consisting of Rob Moose, CJ Camerieri, Nadia Sirota, Gabriel Cabezas, Hideaki Aomori and Alex Sopp — last teamed with Hornsby for a 2020 tour just before the pandemic led to a pause in live music. Each concert featured a song they composed together as the encore that turned into the title track for Deep Sea Vents.

In the fall of 2020, Rob Moose inquired if Hornsby would be interested in composing more material with yMusic and upon receiving a positive response Deep Sea Vents was born. Moose sent Hornsby sketches and Bruce rapidly returned completed compositions. Bruce Hornsby worked in his Williamsburg, Virginia studio while yMusic recorded their parts in New York City.

Deep Sea Vents is “an album of 10 songs about water and the ways we live with, in or against it,” as per a press release. Bruce Hornsby and Rob Moose produced the record. Guests include Branford Marsalis, Mark Dover and drummer Chad Wright. Hornsby and yMusic’s CJ Camerieri stated the following in regards to lead single “Deep Blue”:

Bruce Hornsby

In eighth grade we had a poetry section in English class, and Stephen Crane (“The Red Badge Of Courage”) was on the list. For some reason some of my friends and I thought two of his poems were a scream so we never forgot them, and I couldn’t get them out of my mind after creating this track so just started singing them- voilà. The rest fairly much wrote itself, and Rob and CJ took over from there. yMusic may be the funkiest, groovingest chamber group in all the land!

Plus- I’m making my recorded debut as an electric sitarist on this piece- I have a limited range and not much ability, granted, but I feel it added a wry, exotic and soulful texture to the song, so why not?

CJ Camerieri

Bruce started the writing process for “Deep Blue.” When he sent sketches our way, we immediately fell in love with the vibe, and got excited about how this song would fit on the album. We love stretching the limits of our ensemble, working to sound like many different kinds of groups without changing instrumentation, and “Deep Blue” presented a great opportunity on that front. We ended up using the bass clarinet in a bass guitar-ish role, the trumpet as a Roy Hargrove-inspired rhythmic element, and the strings to take it home with a feature that goes to wildly unexpected, virtuosic, and contemporary places.

Listen to BrhyM’s “Deep Blue” below:

Bruce Hornsby and yMusic will take BrhyM on the road this spring. The jaunt spans March 7 through April 23. Scroll below for a full list of dates and ticketing links.

Deep Sea Vents Tracklist

1. Wild Whaling Life 4:21
2. (My) Theory Of Everything 3:26
3. Platypus Wow 3:49
4. Phase Change 4:22
5. Foreign Sounds 4:30
6. The Wake Of St Brendan 3:40
7. Deep Blue 3:22
8. The Baited Line 2:35
9. Barber Booty 3:05
10. Deep Sea Vents 3:34