In his new album Asymmetrical Dot Stephen Emmer combines origin, memory and future through sound. The deeply personal album explores multicultural identity, loss, renewal and the beauty of imbalance.
On 27 February 2026, the Dutch composer and producer Stephen Emmer releases Asymmetrical Dot, his most personal album to date. Long situated at the intersection of contemporary chamber music, global sound traditions and atmospheric sound art, Emmer’s work has always moved between worlds. This new project tells a deeply resonant story of origin, identity and renewal as well as embracing the beauty in imbalance.
Asymmetrical Dot was created during a year of profound personal transition. The death of Emmer’s mother, the birth of his first grandchild, the loss of a close musical friend and a serious health scare converged into an intense confrontation with mortality, legacy and inner inheritance. This tension between departure and arrival runs through the entire album.
It becomes particularly tangible in Benja’s Birth, where children’s voices and indigenous percussion sonically announce the arrival of a new generation, evoking the idea of a lived and continuously transmitted cultural memory.
Musically, Asymmetrical Dot opens a space between contemporary chamber music, jazz noir atmospheres and global sound influences. Long, sustained tones inspired by Indonesian musical traditions intertwine with Western contrapuntal writing for vibraphone, celesta, marimba and strings. Above this, wordless voices are treated as instruments, conveying emotion without fixing it linguistically. Emmer deliberately avoids text, allowing listeners the freedom to project their own imagination.
A key role is played by the international ensemble at the heart of the album. Musicians from Armenia, Peru, Venezuela, Indonesia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States give Asymmetrical Dot its global sonic depth. Their diverse musical backgrounds do not merge into a single uniform style but retain their individual colours, coming together in a rich and compelling polyphony. It is precisely this artistic diversity that reflects Emmer’s central idea: that identity is formed not through separation, but through dialogue.
The title itself is programmatic. Asymmetry describes life in the in between, the constant movement between cultures, experiences and inner landscapes. The dot refers to the musical symbol that extends a note beyond its written duration, much like memory, emotional resonance or a life shaped not by a fixed centre but by motion. What might once have appeared as imbalance is revealed here as a source of strength and harmony.
For the realisation of the album, Emmer collaborated with an international team of outstanding artists, including vocal producer Beth Hirsch, Grammy winner Fernando Aponte, concertmaster Everton Nelson, Grammy mastering legend Patricia Sullivan, and the acclaimed jazz and global music vocalist Maria Alejandra Quintanilla.
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Credits
Stephen Emmer – Composer, producer, arranger, orchestrator, artist
Willem Friede – Orchestrator, transcriber & orchestra conductor
Musicians
Stephen Emmer – Piano, guitar, bass, keyboards, electronics
Ian Burdge – Cello
Everton Nelson – Violin
Michael Moore – Clarinet
Jan Kooper – Saxophones
Rik Mol – Trumpet
Vocalists
Arpi Alto – Vocals track 2, 3, 8
Beth Hirsch – Vocals track 5
Courtney Swain – Vocals track 1, 4, 8
Maria Alejandra Quintanilla – Vocals track 7, 10
Beth Hirsch – Co-writer of track 5
Engineering
Paul Pouwer – Recording engineer @ Power Sound Studio (Amsterdam, NL)
Nick Taylor – Recording engineer, analog summing engineer, additional mixing engineer @ Air-Edel Recording Studios Ltd (London, England)
Fernando Aponte – Mixing engineer (Houston, USA)
Patricia Sullivan – Mastering engineer @ Bernie Grundman Mastering (Los Angeles, USA)
Hilary Skewes & Sophie Procter – Musician fixer Hilary Skewes & Co (London, England)
Maarten Bousie – Graphic design & Webmaster
Connie Kemp – Project manager
Thanks to Daphne, Julia, Inez, Roekie, Benja, Connie
Rest in peace Roekie Aronds, Paul Weijenberg, Steven Beek, Liesje G, José Mauro
Inquiries & requests
Please contact office@stephenemmer.com