York Peace

Lest you miss Theo Bleck-mann and Fumio Yasuda’s attempt to tune in to a bygone era, the vocalist and pianist begin this collection of early-to-mid 20th century German songs with the sound of radio static. The white noise is gone by the end of the second track, Eisler and Brecht’s “Das Deutsche Miserere,” and its absence suggests that the musicians found what they were looking for. But what should we make of what they’ve found? That everything here dates back to the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich is hardly indicative of an exercise in nostalgia. Bleckmann, according to his Web site, is a “Genre-bending, -skipping and -skirting vocalist and composer.” And Yasuda works in both the classical and jazz realms.