Johanna Borchert_piano, vocals, synths
Miles Perkin_double bass, vocals, percussion, electronics
www.johannaborchert.de
www.milesperkin.com
New Album “The Match”, enja/yellowbird, 02/2026
The Match. It can imply a sense of compatibility and connection. Or it can imply a challenge, competition or conflict. This contradiction represents the basis for this new duo formation between Copenhagen based pianist Johanna Borchert and Berlin based double bassist Miles Perkin. .
Two instrumentalists. Two voices. Two compatible sound worlds combine to cast a wide web of musical meeting points. The pair bring a vast other-worldly sound vocabulary on their respective instruments using preparations and extended techniques while drawing influences from jazz, new music composition, and long form improvisation. As singers they blend these elements with the craft of songwriting and pop music influences to create long arcs that weave between abstract layered sound fabrics, simple songs, angular rhythmic outbursts, serene soundscapes and everything in between. This makes for a captivating and touching listening experience where it is impossible to predict what is coming next. Voices and sounds interweave to create a musical world that is all their own, and greater than the sum of its parts.
While the process of their music making is based on these connection points, the songs are centred around the challenges and conflicts that are embeded in daily life; doubt, anxiety, dis-trust of others around you, your partner, yourself, and the chaos of living in a turbulant age when everyday feels like you are in not merely “a match”, but The Match against a formidable opponent that you are unprepared to face. It can get so overwhelming that sometimes you want to strike a match and burn it all down. Their music serves a place of escape from these tensions. It’s a place where edges soften, expectations become flexible, definitions blur, and one can find a place of peace, refuge and hope.
The debut album from The Match was recorded in June 2024, and will be released in February 2026 on Enja/Yellowbird records.
Born in Berlin, Copenhagen based pianist Johanna Borchert began her musical journey with a traditional familiarisation of the classics. From there she continued to bloom into an emerging talent in the modern music scene. Her far-ranging sources of inspiration are as far-ranging as Bach, Debussy and Bartok, to jazz musicians such as Thelonious Monk and Keith Jarrett as well as contemporary composers Messiaen, Cage and Ligeti to name a few. Furthermore, a semester abroad studying Indian “Carnatic” music helped further her musical expression at the piano and as a vocalist.
As a co-leader of the band “Schneeweiss & Rosenrot” together with renowned Swiss vocalist Lucia Cadotsch she won the German Jazz Prize in 2012 and was three times nominated for the Danish Music awards with her Copenhagen based duo “Little Red Suitcase”. She has collaborated with artists such as Fred Frith, Shazad Ismaily, Petter Eldh among others.
She appears regularly as a soloist and in small group formations performing repertoire from her albums FM Biography, Orchestra Idéal, Love or Emptiness and Amniotic.
Born and raised in Brandon on the Canadian prairies, the imagery of the big sky and wide open landscapes have forever permeated his approach to music. He has released 8 albums of his own stylistically diverse instrumental and vocal music, and has appeared on approximately 50 other recordings.
Miles Perkin’s musical career began after moving to Montreal in 1999. He was a key member of Montreal’s diverse and flourishing music scene for 11 years until he relocated to Berlin in 2010 where he composes soundtracks for theatre and film productions while regularly collaborating with musicians such as Benoit Delbecq, Michael Attias, Kris Davis, Jim Black and Simon Jermyn to name a few. Miles’ diverse career has led him to contributions on stage or in the studio with household names such as Lhasa de Sela, The Barr Brothers, Patrick Watson and Feist.
He performs regularly as a soloist, with his quartet, and in a new duo collaboration with Johanna Borchert called The Match.