In Enter Branch, saxophonist and composer Nick Zoulek offers a stunningly physical and immersive listening experience across nine expansive tracks.

Enter Branch pairs the raw, real-time expressiveness of continuous solo saxophone performance with collaborations that use genre itself as a means of expression. Performed on bass, tenor, alto, and acoustically extended saxophones, every part was recorded in full, uninterrupted takes. Rather than relying on effects like delays or looping, Zoulek combines circular breathing, fluttering overtones, arpeggiated pulses, and an arsenal of extended techniques built from his mastery of classical and avant-garde performance to evoke a story of both rapture and rupture.

Enter Branch features a striking lineup of collaborators from across the musical spectrum. The album’s first track, “Mirrored Glass,” features S. Carey and serves as an emotional prologue to Enter Branch. Carey’s vocals surface within the thrum of Zoulek’s spectrally blurred textures, creating a moment of reflection before the album splinters and expands. Spoken word artist J. Ivy delivers a revelatory performance on “Organic,” anchoring the tidal momentum of the music with a mantra of growth. Nathalie Joachim (Flutronix) brings layered vocals to the crushing textures of “Reach.” Elsewhere, Zoulek's mastery in the classical and jazz idioms radiates through the music, heightened by contributions from cellist Nick Photinos (Eighth Blackbird), ~Nois, the Tontine Ensemble, Chris Porterfield (Field Report), and others.

“Every musician on this album is so inspirational not only in their artistry, but through their involvement in their respective communities," Zoulek says. "I've always been inspired by music that blurs boundaries, but rather than destroying those walls, I see this as creating something more."

Each artist brings a distinct voice that, together, forms a sound world richer than the sum of its parts, creating textures that expand the album’s immersive landscape.

The album crafts its sonic vastness through experimental recording techniques and intentionality. Each piece was composed with specific production approaches as a foundation, drawing on the saxophone’s most distinct sonic qualities. While much of the mixing and production was handled by Zoulek himself, he collaborated with engineers who craft the music that inspires him, working with Brian F. Joseph, Casey Foubert, Daniel Holter, Mike Tierney, and Michael Laurello to sculpt the album’s aural architecture.

Enter Branch opens at a point of collapse and grows outward, searching through hard, unwatered dirt while reaching for new truth. Recurring melodies, timbres, rhythms, and harmonies act as connective tissue, resurfacing like memories you’re not sure are yours. The result feels as biological as it does musical: more human than machine, and yet made possible only through Zoulek’s inventive use of the machinery itself.

Enter Branch is available now via Better Company Records.