Today I’m introducing you to the track Jøkul by the two artists Selsom and Walker Combe. Selsom comes from Norway and has played the piano since the age of six. Later he went on to study music production which brought him to the UK. Walter Combe has played the Cello since he was five years old. He gave up music in his early 20s but came back about nine years ago.

The track Jøkul was released as a single on the 26th of June, 2020.

Tell us something about what your plans going forward with your releases!
For Selsom this is part of a yearly project where I compose, produce and release one track a month for a year. This year’s concept is based on the fact that Norway has 100 words related to snow. I will choose 12 of my favourite words. After the 12th release, the plan is to collate them into an album called SNØ meaning snow in Norwegian. It will most likely be released a year from when the concept started in the end of February.

Tell us something about the track Jøkul!
Selsom:
When I started this year long concept album, I really wanted to do it on a real piano. I had saved up for an upright for over a year, and then COVID hit! So I released the 3 first tracks performed on a Nord Stage keyboard, where I recorded the stereo output, but placed a stereo pair of microphones above it to pick up the actual ambiance. 3 months into the pandemic I finally managed to get hold of a beautiful Yamaha U1! As soon as I composed this track, I knew I had to involve Simon. The track was screaming for a cello, and Simon is a fantastic cellist as well as a brilliant recording engineer. Basically, win! After getting the track back from Simon, I had a little moment where I almost cried out of excitement. When picking a snow related name for the track, it had to mirror the atmospheric vastness of the track as well as the slow melancholic pace. Jøkul is one of my favourite snow words. It is an arm or one strand of a glacier, which perfectly fits in with the fact that it’s a collaboration, like a little offshoot from the larger project.

Walker Combe:
When I got the piano track from Stian there was so much space to explore it. I just sat with it and started hearing these notes with overtones… I explored those and then this beautiful melody hit me in the middle of the piece and I loved it straight away and tracked it immediately without editing. I was recording during the heatwave in May and I had to track it late at night as the birds were making so much noise during the day it was impossible to get a clean take.

Thank you very much for this lovely track!

For more information, please check out these following pages:
Selsom:
Facebook / Instagram / Website / Spotify

Walter Combe:
Facebook / Instagram / Spotify

Today I’m introducing you to the latest track, Us, by the London based composer and piano player Sherwood Roberts. Sherwood started writing music when he was 13 years old after listening to ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony” by The Verve and “have never looked back”.

The track Us was released as a single on the 19th of June, 2020.

Tell us something about your track Us!
This track ‘Us’ came about after a conversation with an intriguing woman at a mutual friends birthday party. I tried to capture that feeling of warmth and hope one gets when meeting someone romantically for the first time but also the acknowledgement that it might have just been exactly what is was and nothing more, a nice conversation. ‘Us’ is the third track of my debut ep ‘Beginnings’ which is a track a month release throughout 2020. 

Thank you very much Sherwood!

For more information and updates, check out any of these following links:
Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Spotify

Today I’m presenting to you the track In a Dream by the Egyptian composer and piano player Omar Raafat, now located in Victoria Canada. Omar writes music for film and TV. Omar have been playing music since he was young and has played in various instruments in different bands.

The track In a Dream was released as a single on the 13th of July, 2020.

Tell us something about your track In a Dream!
The song “In a Dream” was written while I was away on holiday. I took my computer and keyboard with me and had a nice view of the sky and a lagoon in front of me. Writing the song was very pleasant as I would always look up from my computer screen and find birds flying and dancing in the sky. Very different than my usual dark/basement room I am always used to working in. The song came together really naturally and quick in one sitting. I wanted to keep it short, organic and simple so I didn’t want to do to much to it. I always find those are the special pieces that just come out! 

Thank you Omar for this piece of music!

For more information, please check out these following pages:
Instagram / Website / Spotify

Today I’m introducing you to the latest track Minerva’s Owl by Italian composer and piano player Andrea Sertori. Andrea started playing the piano at the age of 9 and has played in numerous rock bands while studying classical piano. Besides the piano he has always had big interest in analog synthesizers.

The study of synthesizers allowed me to learn how to combine classical piano music with electronic music.

The track Minerva´s Owl was released as a single on the 26th of June, 2020.

Tell us something about your track Minerva’s Owl!
Minerva’s Owl is a purely piano track with some elements of atmosphere in the background), intimate and reflective, composed in a very difficult moment for all of us, especially in northern Italy where I live. The owl’s eyes and beak follow the line of the letter φ (fi), Greek alphabetical symbol of philosophy and later of the golden section. A letter that therefore unites harmony, beauty and love for knowledge. I believe that the world is in great need of these elements. And we find these elements in wise people, in our grandparents and in all the elderly people we must protect.

Thank you Andrea for this wonderful piece of music!

For more information, please click on any of these following links:
Facebook / Instagram / Spotify

Today I’m presenting you to the latest track by the Italian composer Mattia Cupelli. I have previously written about another rework from Mattia, which can be found here, and here’s another one!

The track Stay was released as a single on the 2nd of July, 2020.

Tell us something about your track Stay!
“Stay – Rework” is part of a new project named “Rework” with includes several old pieces recomposed in my actual style.This one is really really different from his original version from my old EP “Frammenti” that featured a string orchestra, differently from the rework, who inherit just a melody and creates new musical phrases around it.The main soft piano phrases embraces the concept melody, until lost and far remembrance piano sounds come in on the flow, as memories from the past. I might say that the mood is the opposite from his original version but maintaining the same melody.Positive and bright in the original “Stay” version, and reflective and meditating on this “Rework”This is the idea behind the track, have a main line and create around it, and lost it in the end.

Thank you Mattia!

For more information and updates, check out some of these links:
Facebook / Website / Instagram / Spotify

Today Im introducing you to the Irish composer and piano player Diarmuid J Kennedy and his song I’ve been your baby so long. Diarmuid was first introduced to music as a kid by his aunt Sister Evelyn; who was a teacher and (as the name indicates) a nun!

One day, she had my sisters, brothers and I singing like the Von Trapp family and literally, the next day, a piano appeared in the house.

Tell us something about your track I’ve been your baby so long!
The song “I’ve been your baby for so long” was originally written on guitar with lyrics. It is a love song with a different angle. Most songs are about love, boy meets girl…girl meets boy, they kiss… they fall in love and live happily ever after, the end!

This song, however, is about what happens in the happily after. The excitement of first love soon becomes overtaken by the necessities of running a family, you know, bills and stuff, operational matters … not very romantic! You can take people for granted. So this song’s starting point is here when every so often, once in a while, usually with a glass of wine you have a moment where you go..wow!! This person means the world to me and no matter what happens I can wait, through the thick and thin, until I have those special moments of clarity, falling in love again with them. Funny story, when I first played it at my showcase gig in January this year, in Arthur’s Jazz And Blues Club in Dublin, I put the lyrics on a projector and to my surprise, instead of quietly reading the lyrics,  the audience actually began singing the words along. They clearly knew what I was talking about!  It was a very special moment. 

Thank you very much for this Diarmuid!

For more information, please check out these following links:
Twitter / Website / Spotify

Today I’m introducing you to the composer Akiyoshi Yasuda from Tokyo in Japan, and his latest track Key. Akiyoshi started playing the piano at the age of 15, and his heros of the tine was Underworld, and he made techno music exclusively.

The track was released on the EP memento -day1 which was released on the 5th of June 2020.

Tell us something about your track Key!
I think of this song Key as a journey to find the key to my own heart. It is a key to memory, a mark, and it is expressed in minimalist piano sounds.
In the “Memento” series, including this “Key”, what I’m trying to capture isScales, melody, rhythm, rhythms, verses, emotions, undulations… I’m composing to strip away everything that music should have, to make it sound like it’s swimming freely It is.

Thanks for sending me this song Akiyoshi!

For more information please check out these following links:
Twitter / Instagram / Spotify

Today I’m introducing you to the latest track by Swedish composer and piano player Natalia Johansson, which I previously have written about in this Behind the piano Post. She was born in Argentina but grew up in Sweden. Natalia has composed music for the past eleven years.

The track Annunaki was released as a single on the 10th of July, 2020.

Tell us something about your track Annunaki!
I recently bought an old upright Schimmel piano from 1955, and the beautiful sound of it inspired my upcoming song ”Annunaki”. I think that the distinct sound and charasteristics of the Schimmel piano made me change my composition style a bit, I really like the quiet and mysterious tunes that comes out of it when using the felt. The song was recorded in my living room with a pair of condenser mics. 

Thank you Natalia!

For more information, please check out any of these following links:
Facebook / Instagram / Spotify

Today I’m introducing you to the track Berceuse by the Dutch composer and piano player Frerick den Haan. Fredrick works in marketing, but as soon as he gets home he “steps into a different world”. He has a past in jazz music:

Many notes, comping in 180 to 220 BPM and with too many licks and lines I started to ask myself ‘why’ and ‘what’ is the essence of playing the instrument.

The track Berceuse is featured on the album Noir which was released on the 12th of June, 2020.

Tell us something about your track Berceuse!
Berceuse was written in a fortnight while I was looking for one final composition to complement the album. As my girlfriend was half a-sleep in bed (piano is in the bedroom) she gave me small nods if I was going in the right direction with the song. That happened actually with all the songs I wrote. That’s why I dedicate the album to my girlfriend Marjolein. 

Thank you Frerick!

For more information, please check out the following links:

Today I’m introducing you to the track Almost There by the Swiss composer and multi instrumentalist Matthias Gusset. Matthias has played different instruments for different bands since 2008.

The aesthetic of the piano (which I learned as a kid) was the most fitting for the feelings and ideas I wanted to express. I wrote a lot of neoclassical pieces, developed my own sound in this genre and released my first album ‘3’ in 2019.

The track Almost There was released as a single on the 19th of June 2020, but will also be featured on an upcoming album sometime 2021.

Tell us something about your track Almost There!
The day after I wrote this song I recorded some tunes on a grand piano in the auditorium of a school. Half a year later at the actual recordings for the album I tried hard (maybe too hard) to recreate the feeling of the first record but couldn’t make it. So I just went with the ‘demo’ of the song. It’ll be the only song on the album played on a grand piano.

Thank you for sharing with us Matthias!

For more information, please check out the following links: