The collision of different backgrounds can sometimes yield amazing results.
As Piano Interrupted impressively demonstrates with their new album “The Unified Field“.
Tom Hodge (UK) and Franz Kirmann (France) are not only from different countries, but also come from different musical worlds: Tom being a classical and minimalist composer, Franz coming from the world of electronica, pop and techno.
Combining such different backgrounds has of course been done before. Many tried, some succeeded, many failed.
But not often the result was as sparkling and refreshingly original like this.
The combination of cut-up samples, piano, cinematic strings and double bass (Tim Fairhall) works particular well here, because Kirmann and Hodge manage to combine complex arrangements and rhythm changes with a melodic content that immediately captures the listener, just to guide him further on a ‘seductive joyride through a diverse range of emotions’.
“The title of the album comes from David Lynch’s book ‘Catching The Big Fish’. In the context of his film-making, Lynch explains that if such a field exists then everything within it interconnects in one way or another, so that scenes and elements that may initially seem disconnected from each other emotionally or in terms of meaning, would in fact eventually make sense. This idea seemed particularly fitting in a musical context also, as it neatly captures Piano Interrupted‘s core music-making methodology; namely to draw upon multiple, varied styles and influences and bring them into one coherent unifying whole.”
This album is comfortably easy to listen to, yet at the same time remarkably complex and subtle.
And thát may exactly be exactly what’s lacking on most other albums combining different musical backgrounds with such a wealth of ideas.
Release Date October 25 on Denovali Records
PIANO INTERRUPTED – EMOTICON