The Predatory Wasp
If I had a musical wishlist for 2023, Gia Margaret releasing an album called Romantic Piano would be very near the top of it. Due 26 May, the double A-side Cicadas / Hinoki Wood is out now, and follows in a similarly beautiful, subdued vein as her incredible 2020 LP Mia Gargaret. Roll on sad boy/girl summer.
The Oslo-based pianist and composer on the cinematic journey and structural chaos of Fieldhead
The premise of One Track Mind is pretty simple: I ask artists to pick one track that means a lot to them – either something they’ve discovered recently, something that’s been with them for years, or one that reminds them of a specific time in their life or career – and tell me what makes it so special to them. I get to talk to the artists I love, and they get to talk about the artists they love. Love all round!
Julia Gjertsen is a pianist and composer based in Oslo. Combining contemporary electronic elements with the piano, she creates contemplative soundscapes and introspective compositions that draw inspiration from nature and reflect on moments from the past and present. Her music is characterized by a tender playing style and beautifully crafted melodies that aim to convey nuanced perceptions and emotions that can often be challenging to express through words.
Her second album Formations was released last year, while more recently she released the collaborative EP Dive alongside Finnish composer Juha Mäki-Patola. Her latest single, Embers, came out earlier this month as part of Fractals, Moderna Records’ annual piano day compilation featuring twelve pieces from composers and pianists around the world.
For her One Track Mind selection, Julia has selected the opening track from UK electronic duo Fieldhead’s 2009 album they shook hands for hours.
“Free-flowing jazz improvisation” is not generally a musical description that will get me reaching for the headphones, but there’s a melancholy quality about Alfa Mist’s new album Variations that appeals to me. Cycles itself meanders around pleasantly for less than two minutes with a bassline strongly reminiscent of Echo Beach, so maybe its the 80s nostalgia – rather than any overt jazziness – that’s got me hooked.
Cannons defined the summer of 2022 for me, when barely a day went past without me listening to at least part of Fever Dream, thanks in large part to it being one of the few albums my kids were happy to listen to in the car in its entirety. So with the sun starting to remind us of its existence, here’s a shimmery new Cannons single for me to relentlessly overplay. Hazy dayz.
Sufjan! Sufers! The Big Suf! Yesterday our founding father announced a new album, Reflections, a studio recording of his score for Justin Beck’s ballet, performed by pianists Timo Andres and Conor Hanick. To be honest, I don’t really like this very much – all a bit ‘jazzy’ for my tastes – but if Sufjan releases, this blog must report. Hopefully they’ll be some sad bits on the full album than I can cherrypick.
Woozy hip-hip, courtesy of, well, ALL the artists. Given soundgood is less than three minutes long I’m not entirely sure what all these dudes are adding – a sigh here, a cymbal crash there – but it’s really lovely regardless.
American singer-songwriter, poet, and photographer Thomas Meluch aka Benoît Pioulard put out his latest album last month, Eidetic: a word denoting the ability to recall mental images with extraordinarily rich precision. To record much of the album, Meluch holed up in a a cabin in rural Maine with a bit of percussion, a couple of Fender electrics, and a parlor guitar made by his friend. You can sense both the isolation and natural splendour throughout Eidetic, which ranges from Stars of The Lid-esque ambience of tracks like Where To to more structured, vocal-led pieces.
I expect some of you are fairly fragile after a long, sunny Bank Holiday weekend of ill-advised excess, so here’s some lovely floaty folk for you courtesy of Kate Stables’ This Is The Kit, who also announced that her new album Careful Of Your Keepers will be coming this June on Rough Trade Records. Feel better?
Last week we had the creator of one of the all-time great remixes, and today we have the man he remixed, proving that they are completely incapable of doing anything too far away from one another. Taken from his new album Crystal Vision, Bibled is glorious, soaring, soft-focus breaks that Mixmag would doubtless describe as “tailor-made for the afters”.
Thunderous modular techno from Sibel Koçer, AKA JakoJako for you today, taken from her Verve EP which is well worth checking out in its entirety, comprising four distinct tracks taking in a range of influences from heady dub to soaring trance.
The Predatory Wasp 