Jumpel

Biography

Jumpel began life in 2005 when Jo Dürbeck, formerly of the German band Bones, began to write and record his own music. Prior to Bones, Jo’s formative musical experiences involved playing with empty detergent cans, boxes and a piano in his parents’ cellar. In 1986 he bought a Commodore C-64 computer and discovered electronic music.

Jo played keyboards, samples and loops in Bones, who over the course of eight years released three albums and seven singles with EMI Germany, and played over 400 gigs in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. Then, after splitting up the band, Jo and Rene (Bones’ singer) founded their own company and studio and started writing and producing music for films. They wrote scores for numerous films and documentaries, and won the award for Best Score at the Filmfestival Valencia in 2006.

Despite his obvious mastery of the dizzying possibilities afforded by technology, Jumpel crafts music of intense intimacy and humanity. His albums serve as testament to the power of careful distillation and minimalism, exuding an emotional complexity that belies their seemingly simple surfaces. The albums must be heard as a whole, yet seem to exist without a real beginning or end.

News

• Stunning New Album from Jumpel & Adi Goldstein – “AIRTH”

  Hidden Shoal is excited to announce the release of AIRTH, the sumptuous new collaboration from Jumpel and Ali Goldstein. The album is available now via Bandcamp and to stream on Spotify along with the other usual digital stores and streamers. The music video for the album track ‘Mock State’ is available to stream on YouTube and the track is also available to stream via SoundCloud. The music of AIRTH is available for licensing via Hidden Shoal (film, tv, web etc).

  AIRTH is the result of a 15-year friendship between electronic downtempo composer Jumpel / Cologne and Tel Aviv-based Adi Goldstein, an innovative composer and musician. From the beginning, the relationship between Adi and Jumpel was a fusion of creative minds and cultures. Their dynamic partnership fostered a shared passion for pushing the boundaries of music and transcending borders and backgrounds. Then, in 2024, they decided to take a new step and embarked on a creative journey: an album that would fuse their unique styles into a seamless ambient electro and experimental experience. Over the course of a month, they put their hearts and souls into creating eleven tracks despite the distance. Each track reflects their individual artistry and the wonderful synergy of their collaboration.

  AIRTH is more than just a collection of tracks. It is a story about overcoming geographical, cultural and historical boundaries through a shared artistic vision using the universal language of music. Jumpel’s experimental ethos from Cologne and Adi’s rhythm from Tel Aviv merge into a unique tapestry of sound that captures the essence of both worlds.

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• Jumpel Releases Beautiful New Album “Drive”

  Hidden Shoal is excited to announce the release of Drive, the sixth album by German ambient-electronica artist Jumpel. The album is available via Bandcamp, Spotify and all good online stores.

  All songs from Drive along with the rest of the Jumpel catalogue are available for licensing across film, tv, web, games and beyond. Check out our licensing page for more info and don’t hesitate to contact us to see how we can work together on your project.

  On Drive, Jumpel invites the listener to accompany him on the journey he takes to his studio. The ride begins at Jo Dürbeck’s home (‘Get U Ready’), takes in small towns, fields and forest (‘Forest Section’), before ending in the middle of Cologne (‘Soaring Spires’). Each of the nine tracks paints a vivid sonic picture of one stage of the journey, as gently pulsing rhythms are counterbalanced by delicate melodic figures. Accessible and deeply evocative, Drive transfixes and transports the listener across its succinct half-hour of dub-inflected ambient pop.

  “Qualitatively spacious, electronically dense, cinematically enthralling and calmly floating” – Igloo Magazine

  The album’s gentle pattering of subtle rhythms is counterbalanced with delicate melodic figures which transfix/hypnotise as much as they transport.

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• Jumpel’s “Cabogato” Album Out Now!

  We’ve eagerly waited 6 years for new work from the incredibly talented German ambient-electronica artist Jumpel and we’re excited to say that the wait is over. Jumpel’s gorgeous fifth studio Cabogato is out now and available to download via Bandcamp. The album will also be available via Spotfiy, iTunes and all other good third party stores in early August. To coincide with the album availability we have also released the stunning second single ‘You’, which is available to stream via SoundCloud.

  “Qualitatively spacious, electronically dense, cinematically enthralling and calmly floating” – Igloo Magazine

  Cabogato Despite his obvious mastery of the dizzying possibilities afforded by technology, Jumpel continues to craft music of intense intimacy and humanity. Cabogato is the product of experimentation with modular synthesizers, field recordings and piano, finely honed into a song suite inspired by time spent at Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park in the Andalusia region of Spain. An enthralling testament to the power of careful distillation and minimalism, Cabogato exudes an emotional complexity that belies its seemingly simple surfaces. From the expansive low-key pulse of ‘Black Sand’ to the delicate, neo-classical, piano-led ‘You’, the album’s vulnerability is both reflective and hypnotic.

  All songs from Cabogato along with the rest of the Jumpel catalogue are available for licensing across film, tv, web, games and beyond. Check out our licensing page for more info and don’t hesitate to contact us to see how we can work together on your project.
  

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• New Jumpel Single, Album in July!

  We’re excited to announce the release of the gorgeous new Jumpel single ‘Black Sand’. The track is lifted from Cabogato, the fifth album by the German ambient-electronica artist and his first in six years. Download ‘Black Sand’ via Bandcamp, stream it via SoundCloud and watch the video over at YouTube.

  “Qualitatively spacious, electronically dense, cinematically enthralling and calmly floating” – Igloo Magazine

  Cabogato Despite his obvious mastery of the dizzying possibilities afforded by technology, Jumpel continues to craft music of intense intimacy and humanity. Cabogato is the product of experimentation with modular synthesizers, field recordings and piano, finely honed into a song suite inspired by time spent at Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park in the Andalusia region of Spain. An enthralling testament to the power of careful distillation and minimalism, Cabogato exudes an emotional complexity that belies its seemingly simple surfaces. From the expansive low-key pulse of ‘Black Sand’ to the delicate, piano-led ‘You’, the album’s vulnerability is both reflective and hypnotic.

  All songs from Cabogato along with the rest of the Jumpel catalogue are available for licensing across film, tv, web, games and beyond. Check out our licensing page for more info and don’t hesitate to contact us to see how we can work together on your project.
  

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• Hidden Shoal is 10!

  Hidden Shoal is extremely excited to be celebrating its 10th birthday this month. It’s hard to believe that back in May 2006, Perth-based musicians Cam Merton, Stuart Medley and Malcolm Riddoch began Hidden Shoal Recordings as a means to put out releases by local artists. Tim Clarke, based in Melbourne, joined the team in 2007. Hidden Shoal has since gone on to become a much-loved independent label and publisher, releasing over 120 albums from a diverse range of international artists and licensing music from its catalogue across film, tv, web and compilation.

  Stay tuned for special anniversary announcements in the coming months!

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• Jumpel's "Bloc4" In The Top Ten of 2013 at Nowamuzyka

  We are still playing catch up with all the wonderful press that came in over the xmas break. Here is a lovely accolade for a brilliant release from a wonderful Polish zine. Lukasz Komla over at Nowamuzyka placed Jumpel’s Bloc4 at number 7 in his best of 2013 list.

  Head here to read the review in Polish (you made need a Polish friend or put up with Google’s attempt at translation). Then head to the Hidden Shoal Store to stream the album in full,  grab yourself a copy on CD or in digital formats and download some free singles.

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• Four Hidden Shoal releases in the KBRP top 30!!!

  The wonderful Arizona based college radio station KBRP can’t get enough Hidden Shoal at the moment. We now currently have four releases in their Top 30 chart!

  16. Liam Singer – Arc Iris
  18. Todd Tobias, Robert Pollard, Circus Devils – I Razor
  26. Jumpel – “Bloc4”
  30. Tangled Star – Let’s Adjourn To The Garden

  Nice!

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• Stunning Review for Jumpel's "Bloc4" in Igloo Magazine

  Jumpel’s sublime new album Bloc4 has just scooped a glowing review in the excellent Igloo Magazine. Here’s a taste,

  “The aesthetic conjunction linking fragility, abstraction and poetical expression is perfectly programmed and transport the listener into melodious-chantlike world of sounds. The expressive and acoustic qualities of Chole March’s very own experiments and personal poetry resonates intimately with Joe Dürbeck’s immersive and powerful electronic fragments to a create a very sensuous experience.” – Igloo Magazine

  Read the whole review here and stream and purchase the album (CD + MP3 + FLAC) here.

  
  Jumpel – ‘Blue Ceiling’

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• Three Hidden Shoal Releases Get Top CMJ Adds at KBRP

  Tangled Star’s Let’s Adjourn To The Garden, Jumpel’s Bloc4 and the Todd Tobias, Robert Pollard and Circus Devils soundtrack album I Razor have all been top 5 CMJ adds at Arizona’s wonderful independent radio station KBRP! I Razor was recently the top CMJ add to rotation and is now charting in the top 30 and Let’s Adjourn To The Garden was last week’s top CMJ add to rotation.

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• Glowing Review for Jumpel's "Bloc4" at Textura

  Following on from the attention received from Textura for Liam Singer’s Arc Iris, another Hidden Shoal artist is also making waves at the site. Jumpel’s stunning release Bloc 4 has just received a glowing review and was chosen as one of their releases of the month,

  “On this album, Jumpel’s secret weapon is—aside from his own artful scene painting—vocalist Chloë March (with whom Dürbeck collaborated on “Edinburgh” from the Europa single), whose humanizing presence elevates every song on which she appears. Her sensual vocalizing acts as a dramatic counterpoint to Dürbeck’s instrumental designs, which by comparison epitomize cool control…Sans vocals, Jumpel’s music plays like some distinctive merger of ambient, post-rock, and krautrock, with piano, guitar, bass, percussion, and electronics woven with great care and circumspection into polished miniatures. Melody abounds but it’s deployed subtly and acts more as part of the overall fabric than as a focal point. Stated more generally, Dürbeck emphasizes intimacy and understatement in the album’s fifteen meticulous constructions. On a commercial level, such an approach likely lessens his chances of making a huge splash, but artistically it pays off handsomely.” – Textura

  Check out Bloc4 and grab the first two singles from the album for free at the Hidden Shoal Store.

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Reviews

• Jumpel "Bloc4" In Nowamuzyka Top Ten of 2013

  Jumpel’s Bloc4 was placed at number 7 in the Nowamuzyka Top Ten of 2013. Read the full write up (in Polish) here.

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• Jumpel 'Pool' Reviewed at The Sunday Experience

  “…I say all this because via a face book activity posting we eyed this little darling. More associated with all things shoe gazed and dream popped, here’s a little off road detour into fragile ambient minimalism courtesy of Jumpel. Culled from their ’bloc4’ full length, ’pool’ is a divinely demurred slice of drift pop, bitter sweetly graceful and lonesome, this ice sculptured lovely navigates an as were neglected star zone wooing its voids in an somnambulant floorshow of serenely dinked vapour trails, utterly affectionate and elegiac in short.”

  – The Sunday Experience

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• Jumpel "Bloc4" Reviewed at Igloo Magazine

  “Since 2006, Hidden Shoal Recordings has made a name in the development and diffusion of some of the most remarkable essays in the unique musical universe of shoegazing dream-pop ambient, swirling soundtracky electronic navigation and chamber-rock evocativeness. An obvious reference in the world of contemporary and innovative electronic music. Each release is meticulously conceived and the music always reveals challenging moments and moving sonic sound capacities, all of this in a deliciously and constant emotional, brooding sensitive shape. Bloc4 comes from the reunion or artistic meeting between two original musical personalities: Joe Dürbeck and Chloe March. Dürbeck formed Jumpel in 2005 for a series of eloquent and dreamily enthusiastic digitized electronic opus. He firstly made a reputation with his band Bones which musically admits a curious and dynamic mix of indie pop-rockin elements based on standardized compositional schemas. Next to numerous gigs and with one member of Bones Joe Dürbeck founded his own company devoted to music for films. Chloe March who was firstly invited to play on the last Dürbeck’s album is a multifaceted artist, singer and piano player. Her musical range oscillates between intimate dream-pop ambient realm and glitch-out electro pop sustained by a delicately introspective acoustic orchestration.

  Delivered as the new Jumpel, Bloc4 is the result of a rare musical complicity between the two artists. It reveals a wonderful journey between emotionally intense dreamscapes and a magically colorful sonic sounding palette. The conceptual background leads us to a creative sync between spatial relations (inside the urbanistic functional-panoptical post-human context) and our own understanding about man lonely-isolated state. The sonorous environment or soundscaping architecture delivers a surprising dialectic between a qualitative sense of awareness and representational figure of close / open communications. The aesthetic conjunction linking fragility, abstraction and poetical expression is perfectly programmed and transport the listener into melodious-chantlike world of sounds. The expressive and acoustic qualities of Chole March’s very own experiments and personal poetry resonates intimately with Joe Dürbeck’s immersive and powerful electronic fragments to a create a very sensuous experience.

  Qualitatively spacious, electronically dense, cinematically enthralling and calmly floating this album is a welcomed recommendation for daydream and reflective state lived inside a “sentimental reconstruction.”

  – Igloo Magazine

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• Jumpel "Bloc4" Reviewed at Textura

  “It makes some kind of perfect sense that Joe Dürbeck would title his fourth Hidden Shoal Jumpel album Bloc4, given the architectural association it invokes and the careful construction of a typical Jumpel track. Specifically, we’re informed that the fifty-one-minute album centers on the “elevated yet lonely world of a tower block, each track poetically investigating its multi-faceted elements and spaces.”

  A typical Jumpel instrumental is less characterized by narrative progression of the kind where a gradual exposition culminates in a grandiose climax; instead, it’s more akin to a near-frozen landscape setting whose fascinating details come into clearer focus the longer the camera monitors the scene—things initially unnoticed gradually turn into focal points as perception shifts from one part of the image to another and as the camera slowly pans from side to side. That’s especially the case during ambient-styled settings such as “Gaze at the Sky,” “Pool,” and “Corruption Corner” that seem tailor-made for self-reflection.

  On this album, Jumpel’s secret weapon is—aside from his own artful scene painting—vocalist Chloë March (with whom Dürbeck collaborated on “Edinburgh” from the Europa single), whose humanizing presence elevates every song on which she appears. Her sensual vocalizing acts as a dramatic counterpoint to Dürbeck’s instrumental designs, which by comparison epitomize cool control. She wasn’t simply brought in at the eleventh hour to add vocals to the tracks either; after presenting her with the album concept, Dürbeck invited her to select certain tracks and develop vocal ideas for them. Her soft, smoky delivery leaves a haunting impression when it first appears in “Appartment” and in the later “Flight,” a rare rhythm-heavy piece, and the hypnotic “Rook.” One of Bloc4‘s loveliest pieces is “Blue Ceiling,” which pairs a slow backing packed with percussion and warbly synthesizers (reminiscent of Eno’s Music for Films or Another Green World) with an alluringly hushed vocal by March.

  As memorable as the vocal pieces are, there are enticing instrumental moments, too. The flute-like melody wafting delicately through the quietly breezy “Monica’s Room” exudes a mellotron quality that introduces an early prog dimension, while elegant piano playing acts as a stark contrast to alien ambient noises during “Floor 4.” Certain track titles suggest a strong programmatic dimension: filled as it is with tiny electronic noises, “Greenhouse” conjures the image of a humid, enclosed space filled with plant life, insects, and birds.

  Sans vocals, Jumpel’s music plays like some distinctive merger of ambient, post-rock, and krautrock, with piano, guitar, bass, percussion, and electronics woven with great care and circumspection into polished miniatures. Melody abounds but it’s deployed subtly and acts more as part of the overall fabric than as a focal point. Stated more generally, Dürbeck emphasizes intimacy and understatement in the album’s fifteen meticulous constructions. On a commercial level, such an approach likely lessens his chances of making a huge splash, but artistically it pays off handsomely.”

  – Textura

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• Jumpel "Bloc4" Airplay Review at 2ser

  ““Jumpel is a Berlin-based producer with his heart firmly placed in the electronic scene that emerged in the 90s and got quickly coined as IDM – Intelligent Dance Music. The sound’s making a comeback of sorts and the man is freshly poised with a new album of beautiful and delicate creations, ticking over on whirring and purring beats set against coolly drifting guitars and absorbing textural atmospheres. The new twist this time around is British vocalist and pianist Chloe March, making a human touch within sound oh-so alien.”

  – 2ser

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• Jumpel 'Europa' – A Strangely Isolated Place

  Excerpt: “… Jo Dürbeck aka Jumpel, found inspiration from time travelling around Europe which has materialised into a very special album, where each track represents a different city, feeling and stage of the journey. “Like many journeys, Europa begins with speculation and tentative steps. In ‘Arles’ and ‘Bern’, the delicate pattering of subtle rhythms is counterbalanced with delicate melodic figures, like light reflecting off water. ” Taking different approaches throughout, ‘Europa’ transcends into a multitude of feelings and ultimately a true sense of change and progression is apparent, until a beautiful vocal hits in ‘Edinburgh’, lighting up an already sublime album. I have it on good word from Pete Srdic (asip’s ears on the ground!) that Jo’s other albums are just as special and varied in their approach, so time to get digging. You can get ‘Europa’ on Jumpel’s Bandcamp and believe it or not, the best track on the album ‘Edinburgh’ is available as a free download (video below). For links to the rest of his releases, see the Hidden Shoal label site or the Jumpel website.”

  A Strangely Isolated Place

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• Jumpel 'Europa' – Headphone Commute

  Excerpt: “On his third full length album for Hidden Shoal, Jumpel curates gentle whispers, lonely glances and tired sighs, in his carefully produced environmental snapshots of the world. Europa is Jo Dürbeck’s continuation of sound exploration as Jumpel, inspired by his travels around the continent, transforming his memories into eleven tracks titled after the visited cities. From Stockholm to Madrid to Vienna and Lisbon, Dürbeck’s album is more than an audio travelogue, it is an “abstracted sonic diary, painting the intangibility and romanticism of memory and travel using sparse yet resonant sound.” There’s no trickery here to ploy the listener and bend his ear, instead the familiar fragments of harmony and effected progression shine through with their exquisite moments, and comfortably settle on their best. Although at times such a description may sound undesirable, I assure you that in this context it is meant as a compliment. Indeed, these tracks are perfect for my morning, rainy and drowsy commute, each telling a story of another city, ticking away with the clink-clank of the train. Perhaps somebody out there, perhaps Dürbeck, perhaps even you, is listening to the story of my city, on their own morning, rainy, and drowsy commute.”

  Headphone Commute

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• Jumpel 'Europa' – Igloo Magazine

  Excerpt: “a minimal explanation of discovery, borne out of travels that extended around Europe. A certain inspiration that gives perspective for wider observations from distances of every measure, but also capped with a certain amount of isolation… It’s cool and collected, but has enough power to draw in the lightness of a natural surrounding, gradually making it glow; carefully planted strings adding a more sublime texture while glittering chimes embrace. Ever so mild, yet makes enough of a statement with its brighter inclinations and filtered sounds. Hugely ambient, gentle and suggestive in part, with quiet aspects that lament around each city stop, Europa is a portrait of minimalistic excellence and a passion for discovery, which flourishes with every experimental step across the continent.”

  Igloo Magazine

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• Jumpel 'Europa' – Textura

  Excerpt: “If Europa isn’t quite a whirlwind tour around the world in eighty days, it’s at the very least a journey through Europe in forty-five minutes—and very much a scenic one at that… An attempt to distill personal memories of eleven European locations into an ambient electronica suite, the concept driving the new release is an inspired one that affords a marvelous opportunity for dramatic sound exploration. Each piece is like a mini-portrait that more evokes the locale indirectly than tries to literally represent it, and the project as a whole imprints itself surrpetitiously on the listener’s mind… The album’s most memorable track is “Edinburgh,” on account of a simple yet memorable set of piano chords and especially a luminous vocal performance by Chloë March. The song stands out so much, in fact, it suggests Dürbeck would be wise to consider featuring a greater number of vocal performances on future Jumpel recordings. Broached as a whole, Europa plays less like the experience of a first-time sightseer excited by the prospect of seeing the usual tourist sights and more like a long-time visitor who regards the journey as a time for reflection and melancholic rumination.”

  Textura

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• Jumpel 'Edinburgh' – Life is Noise

  Excerpt: “We really dug Jumpel’s last album, Deuxième Bureau, so we’re naturally very excited that the German minimalist will be gracing our ears again, through the excellent Hidden Shoal Recordings. Jumpel’s third album, Europa, is out now.You can watch the mesmerisingly good film clip to the first single, “Edinburgh”, which features the vocals of Chloë March. Like the music itself, it’s arrestingly simple and brilliantly executed. Enjoy!”

  Life is Noise

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Press Releases

Jumpel Bloc4 Album Release

‘Flight’ Single Release

‘Blue Ceiling’ Single Release

Europa Album Release

‘Edinburgh’ Single Release

Deuxième Bureau Official CD Release

‘Quicken Belts’ Single Release

Samuel Jason Lies On The Beach Album Release

Jumpel Signing

Artist Photos

Music Videos

Licensing

Jumpel’s music is  available for licensing (master & sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please contact us with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.