These insistent, quietly rhythmical and predominantly ambient pieces are explorations in marking time, of waiting and reflecting. Echoes of being in the moment, even when you don’t know what that moment actually is. Of fluctuating emotions: anxiety, resignation and defiance! But, also, positivity and an increased appreciation of the things closest to us that we often overlook.
On ‘Mangled Pianos’ multiple similar piano lines are laid on top of each other, each one played without listening to the previous part. Some takes time stretched, others at normal speed, create a repetitive but varying series of layers, sometimes working together in harmony, sometimes feeling discordant. At times calm and meditative, but also anxious and uncertain.
“The idea was to create an aural representation of the feeling I had during lockdown,” says Holroyd, “which was a time where I was doing the same, or very similar things, every day, without much variation or structure.”
credits
from Mangled Pianos,
released July 23, 2021
Written by Bob Holroyd.
Published by Real World Works
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