A Fool's Leap of Faith

About A Fool's Leapof Faith

Tyler Burba, the creative force behind the project Visit, is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist whose work spans genres and traditions. His music balances haunting intimacy with powerful lyricism, creating songs that feel deeply personal yet universal in scope. With A Fool’s Leap of Faith, Burba and Visit deliver what may be the most compelling Octave Records release to date—a body of work that demonstrates music’s rare ability to transform and illuminate.

Burba’s musical journey began in the Pacific Northwest, singing at gospel competitions and performing on local Christian radio programs. Teaching himself piano and guitar, he was first inspired by rock and roll greats like Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and Bob Dylan, before branching into classical, jazz, blues, Latin, country, avant-garde, and spoken word. His expansive approach reflects not just a versatility of style, but a lifelong curiosity about music as a vehicle for meaning.

A formative influence came at age fifteen when he met poet Allen Ginsberg, who encouraged his pursuit of poetry. Burba later attended Naropa Institute, where he studied poetry and music with Beat poets Anne Waldman, Akilah Oliver, and Reed Bye. Immersed in both art and spiritual practice, he began a lifelong study of Tibetan Buddhism and Dzogchen meditation, seeing listening itself as a form of awareness—a practice of presence and ecstasy that informs his compositions.

His academic path is as wide-ranging as his music: a Master’s in Ecstatic Listening from European Graduate School (later published by Atropos Press as On Becoming Music: Between Boredom and Ecstasy), a second Master’s in Ethnomusicology from Hunter College, and doctoral work at EGS on visual ecstasy and synesthesia. Since 2005, Burba has also worked as a teacher in New York public schools, most recently transitioning from English to Music, where he brings the same passion for awareness and creative inquiry to his students.

Under the Visit moniker, Burba has released multiple albums of what he calls “existential music,” including collaborations setting Thomas Pynchon’s lyrics to song. His forthcoming projects include Existential Hymns (2022), Exit Ayres, and a new big-band collaboration on Gravity’s Rainbow lyrics with producer Christian Hӓnggi. With A Fool’s Leap of Faith, Burba takes another bold step forward, affirming his place as one of today’s most original and affecting voices.