Munich vocalist and composer Kilian Sladek announces Colorblind, a new album that marks a considered step forward in his work — away from the layered, ensemble-driven sound of his earlier releases and toward a more direct, song-centred language that draws on neo-soul, R&B and the jazz harmony and phrasing that have shaped everything he has made. Set for release on 9 October 2026 through Bergson Music, on LP and all streaming platforms, the album presents Sladek as a vocalist and songwriter at the front of his own project in a way that his previous work only partially allowed.

Sladek grew up in Bavaria in a musical household, moving through boys’ choir, trumpet and school big band singing before formal study took him to the jazz and classical singing programmes at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München and later to Riga, where he studied with Inga Berzina. That dual foundation — the openness of jazz improvisation and the technical discipline of classical vocal training — is audible in everything he does. Alongside his studies, he pursued a degree in cultural music management in Munich, which led to a parallel career as a project director and artistic consultant, a role he continues to hold at Bergson Kunstkraftwerk, one of west Munich’s most significant new creative venues.

His earlier recordings, released under the name Fragments on Unit Records, established him as a distinctive voice in the German jazz scene — one willing to work with extended vocal techniques, sound design and atmospheric density rather than the conventional placing of the voice at the front of a band. The Süddeutsche Zeitung noted that his work allows listeners to become “the owners of a piece of art, shaped by their thoughts and uniquely retrievable only by them.” Jazzthing called him “a master of scatting.” Those releases showed range and ambition; Colorblind shows what happens when that range is channelled into the most direct form available to a singer: the song itself.

The album was developed over approximately three years in close collaboration with pianist and producer Sam Hylton. Sladek composes first — building from piano, harmony and melody — before he and Hylton develop and produce the tracks together. That process gives the record its particular shape: rhythmically assured, harmonically warm, and built around a language of minor elevenths and shifting tonal centres that is consistent across the album’s full length. The writing is in English, and the emotional register is deliberately bittersweet. As Sladek puts it: “There’s always some bittersweetness to it. There can’t just be happiness.”

Each of the three pre-release singles features a different guest artist, chosen not for visibility but for what they could bring to the specific track they appear on. “Gravity” (26 June) features Torsten Goods — Germany’s foremost jazz guitar voice, whose West Coast soul and jazz textures give the song its sense of weightlessness. “All Yours” (7 August) features Joo Kraus — Grammy-nominated trumpeter, rapper and vocalist, a genuinely cross-genre figure whose trumpet and vocal work push the song toward the rhythmically elastic side of the album. “Café Indigo” (18 September) brings together vocalist Karoline Weidt, BMW Young Artist Jazz Award winner, with trumpeter Lisa Buchholz and saxophonist Niko Zeidler — both former Bundesjazzorchester members, and co-leaders of the acclaimed electronic-jazz sextet NYMMER. The album also features additional contributions from producer and multi-instrumentalist Joshua Milo and drummer Lisa Wilhelm, winner of the Soloist Prize at the Young German Jazz Prize 2023.

Sladek’s core live band — Sam Hylton on keys, Marco Dufner on drums, and Ludwig Klöckner on bass, with Lisa Wilhelm also part of the ensemble — translates the studio material to the stage in a way that is designed to open up rather than duplicate. The live version of the project has been developed over time at Bergson Kunstkraftwerk through the “Kilian Sladek meets…” concert series, which has brought different guest artists together with the band in a sequence of shows that has grown in scale and production across the past two years. The album release concert on 16 October 2026, with Torsten Goods and Karoline Weidt joining the band on stage, marks the conclusion of that series.

Bergson’s role in this project goes further than venue. As the home of Sladek’s artistic work and the label behind Colorblind, it represents a model of artist-led development that is directly reflected in how the album was conceived, produced and released. Colorblind is the first original-music release to emerge from outside Bergson’s in-house production framework — a meaningful distinction, and one that speaks to the independence of the project’s creative origin.

Jazzmedia & More is taking on Kilian Sladek at a moment when the project is fully formed and the campaign already in motion. What drew us to this is straightforward: Colorblind is a serious album by a musician who has clearly thought about what he wants to say and how he wants to say it. The collaboration story is strong, the live strategy is developed, and the local and national media context in Germany is one we know how to work. We are pleased to be involved.

For more information about Kilian Sladek and Colorblind, or to discuss press and bookings, please get in touch.