ROBERT LEHMANN & TOBY RAMASWAMY

Raised in culturally mixed households in the U.S., Robert Lehmann and Toby Ramaswamy prefer to exist in the in between – somewhere at the intersection of the Philippines, India, Germany, and the Midwest. Fittingly, the keys and drums duo play improvised music that’s hazy in its boundaries – not quite jazz, not quite neoclassical, not quite minimalist, not quite drum and bass. On keyboard, Lehmann pulls in melancholic melodies from Romantic and Impressionist era studies, the heavy bass lines of electronic music, and influences from years of playing in afrobeats and Arabic music ensembles. Ramaswamy glides between tight, propulsive strings of beats and loose, open textures evoking nature. For Ramaswamy and Lehmann, improvisation is a commitment to vulnerability and an avenue into liminality as much as it is an approach to crafting sound. The duo is currently working on their debut album of improvised music featuring Shahzad Ismaily and Paul Taylor.