Born in 1987, Peter Broderick is an American multi-instrumentalist and singer, now based in Ireland. Aside from collaborations with M. Ward, Laura Gibson, Dolorean, Efterklang, Nils Frahm, Greg Haines, David Allred and many more, Broderick recorded several acclaimed albums of solo material, ranging from sparse classical compositions or homemade folk music to piano and voice recordings. He has been constantly experimenting with different musical genres, making his name as an increasingly recognized artist in today’s musical panorama. 

Broderick’s dedication to Arthur Russell’s music first started in the summer of 2017 when a former Efterklang bandmate invited him to perform at his new festival in Denmark, with the specific idea that Peter would play an entire set of Arthur Russell songs. As a long-time lover of Russell’s work, Broderick immediately accepted the invitation and began to learn a collection of songs, being after joined by a band of Danish musicians. 

Arthur Russell’s music knows no idiomatic borders. As a composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer and producer, he was equally at home in the New York avant-garde as in disco, art pop, folk and new wave. During his lifetime, Russell become an underground cult figure within club culture for projects like Dinosaur L and Loose Joints, he found himself in the circles of Allen Ginsberg and once recorded an alternative version of “Psycho Killer” with Talking Heads. He only released two studio albums during his far too short lifetime: the orchestral “Tower of Meaning” in 1983 and the brilliant “World of Echo” in 1986 – the year in which he also received his HIV-diagnosis. Russell left behind a vast archive of unreleased music, mostly works in progress.

After presenting the mentioned set of Arthur Russell’s songs in several festivals, Peter Broderick was contacted by Russell’s long-time partner Tom Lee. He was invited to examine some of Russell’s archival work and asked to do audio restoration work on the old tapes.

Peter’s strong love for Arthur’s work grew exponentially as he dove into the psyche of his hero, listening to hours and hours of unreleased material. He discovered that some of his favorite Russell songs have yet to be heard by the public and felt inspired to learn some of these tunes himself.