POPPY ACKROYD – pause (CD, LP Vinyl)
Collection of 10 solo piano works. Poppy tells us; "For previous albums almost as much of the creative process was spent editing and manipulating recordings as it was composing at the piano, however after having my son, I struggled to spend time sat in front of a computer. The only thing I wanted to do while he was still small, if I wasn't with him, was to play the piano. In fact, much of the album was written with him asleep on me in a sling as I used any quiet moment to compose. It therefore made sense that this album should be a solo piano album. I used extended technique - playing with sounds from inside the instrument - like I do in my multi-tracked recordings, however it was important to me that every track on the album could be entirely performed with just two hands on the piano." Following the writing process Poppy spent several months practicing in order to be able to play the pieces completely fluidly. She says "there was a lightness and effortlessness to the recordings that I wanted that was only achievable after many hours of practise." The album opens with early-riser 'Seedling', inspired by natural wonder of spring experienced on early morning walks through Brighton's Queen's Park. Flourishing, optimistic melodies that open up with the steady building of glistening, cascading keys. 'Suspended' retreats into confinement; written to invoke a bird's-eye view of a city in lockdown, lonely and removed in its presentation, with plucked notes that drift effortlessly and longingly above it. It's performed with both hands inside the piano - one firmly tapping the strings on the performer side of the piano dampers, and the other using the strings on the far side. 'Murmurations' continues the theme, based on the collective movement of starlings. Using repetition and subtle changes, it focusses on big, sweeping migrations, until it fixes on a singular bird's journey. The title-track that follows slows with a soft, ruminating inflection, one that reflects on anxiety and separation, this time the hands are split with one playing keys and the other plucking the inside of the piano. We're given a rush of imagined freedom with mid-point 'Release', a light and airy, uplifting composition that works to keep us hopeful. 'Muted' was recorded with weighted cloth dampening the strings in the lower half of the piano. This in turn highlights the instrument's natural resonance and reverb, and captures the sense of potential in its experimentation. 'Impulse' displays a push and pull between energy and it's gradual taming, while follow-up 'Stillness' leaves all exertion behind as it drifts into a sleepy lullaby, a point of clarity in an album otherwise brimming with concept and emotion. 'Flutter' brings us back to nature with the thought of butterfly wings, a seemingly small thing that bursts with thoughts of life and colour. Finally, we're left with 'Unravel', another that uses the full effect of plucking and strumming the piano's strings. It's a beautiful, thought-provoking closer that slowly unwinds. As individual stories 'Pause' is compelling and ambitious but in its entirety it's a flawless snap-shot of its time, highlighting the highs and lows of the period as well as a unique and challenging era for its creator. It carries with it a host of stages we've all found ourselves working through and has done so with gorgeous, poetic lucidity, all the while expanding on the sounds usually expected of a solo piano record. * One Little Independent
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