Zeus Faber

Zeus Faber consists of two classically trained Swiss musicians and friends, songwriter/keyboardist/programmer/co-producer Olivier Truan and songwriter/keyboardist/co-producer Tristan Feldbauer. Truan studied at the Basel Conservatory of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Berklee College of Music Boston, from which he graduated magna cum laude, and collaborated with artists such as Cocodrilos and jazz saxophonist Dave Peterson. Feldbauer studied with classical teachers in Switzerland, France, and Italy, and is also a teacher, archeologist, and master scuba diver. Feldbauer's love of the sea and its mysteries shape the group's style. He had been working on this concept by himself for a couple of years when Truan took a demo tape from Feldbauer's house by mistake. Intrigued by the piano sketches he discovered, Truan joined Feldbauer in developing these rough compositions; the pair took the name Zeus Faber, after a fish that changes color to blend with its environment. Similarly, the duo blends jazz and ambient atmospherics on their albums, 1993's Scubason -- "sound of the deep" -- and 1996's Below. Signed to the Hearts of Space label after sending a demo CD of Scubason in a brown paper bag with a one-paragraph letter, Zeus Faber create ever-changing soundscapes that are as challenging as they are mellow. ~ Heather Phares