Sleepy Songs

Today I’m presenting you with the track Contemplating by the piano player Sidney Chopin from Australia. The track is composed by the composer Fiona Jay Hawkins, from Australia as well. Sidney enjoys to play new styles of music but his favorite is modern piano.

The track Contemplating was released as a single on the 15th of march, 2023 and will eventually be part of an album later on.

Tell us something about your track Contemplating!
Recording the track was not so easy, we experienced thunder and lightening and needed to turn the recording gear off multiple times and then restart everything when we thought it had passed over.  It took a whole day because the rain didn’t let up.  I learned to understand weather radars because of this song!

Thank you Sidney!

Today I’m presenting you with the track Heirloom by the British composer and piano player Kevin Kerrigan. Kevin was one of the first composers I wrote about on the blog, and is constantly releasing new music from different projects.

The track Heirloom was released as a single on the 17th of march, 2023.

Tell us something about how you started making music!
I’ve kind of come full circle in the 30 of so years I’ve been making music.  I started experimenting on the piano when I was a teenager, and like many pianists have always found it a great source of meditation and calm as well as slowly discovering how to create little worlds with sound.

In the years since I’ve done all sorts from pop records to grand film soundtracks,  but I always come back ‘home’ to the piano,  and this happens more and more as I get older.  There’s something very emotionally honest about the piano,  especially an upright piano.

Tell us something about your piano!
I’ve been lucky recently to get hold of a very unusual little Schimmel piano which has the most honest and beautiful tone.   Like us,  it’s not perfect and has lots of little idiosyncrasies and quirks.  Like it’s namesake (schimmel means ‘fungus’)  It is unique and has a personality,  which is something you only really get from real (especially older) instruments,  and every time I sit at it something surprising comes out.

This little piano and I have been on Earth for around the same time, and it feels like it’s had its own lifetime of stories it wants to tell.  This piece “Heirloom” was the first thing which it wanted to share.

Thank you very much for this Kevin!

Today I’m presenting you with the track The Academic Narrative by the dutch composer and piano player Frerick den Haas. I have written about both Frerick and his music before, so please check out this Behind the piano post to get to know Frerick better!

The track The Academic Narrative was released on Frericks latest album, which is released today (on the 7th of April, 2023).

Tell us something about your track The Academic Narrative!
The track is literally the opening track as it paves the way for the rest of album. It depicts the opening setting (the narrative) of an academic life on a dark academia college somewhere in England. However, I am not running the entire movie for the listeners, but like to share some fragments with them of how it could look like through various settings that comply with a typical college setting. Think of boat races, libraries, illuminated groups, books and more. Funny anecdote, I found out a couple of months ago that a lot of my listeners are very font of dark academia subjects. I concluded that without knowing at first that I also belong to this group of like minded people. Therefore this album is dedicated to those self-proclaimed dark academist that see the world a little differently than anyone else. 

Thanks for sharing with us once again Frerick!

Today I’m presenting you with the track Softly She Spoke by the British composer and piano player David Hildick-Smith and his project The Long Room. David has played the piano since the age of eight but found “learning pieces and scales” unrewarding. He has released music of his own for a couple of years.

The track Softly She Spoke was released as a single on the 9th of march, 2023.

Tell us something about your track Softly she spoke!
I play often in the evening and when I think I have made something interesting enough I muse about it and start recording bits. This song was me looking for a rhythmic sequence that would underlie a tune. 

Thank you for this David!

Today I’m presenting you with the track Altitude bu the polish born British composer and piano player Greg Kozakiewicz. Greg says he is influenced by WWII TV dramas and the Revolutions of 1989 and wants to make music that makes people reflect on their lives.

The track Altitude was released as a single on the 21st of march, 2023.

Tell us something about your track Altitude!
I reached the point I had to make changes to my life as physical and mental levels.. One of them was moving to Turkey. This is a first single written after.

To me, altitude is more than just a physical elevation; it is a state of mind, a way of being in the world that required a certain level of courage and determination.The piece begins with a simple and serene melody that gradually evolves into a more complex and dissonant arrangement, mirroring the ups and downs of life.

Thanks for this Greg!

Today I’m presenting you with the track Spring Flower by the German composer and piano player Martin Lucent. Martin has played the piano since the age of 12 and started writing his own piano music about two years ago.

The track Spring Flower was released as a single on the 17th of march, 2023.

Tell us something about your track Spring Flower!
The track is aiming for a spring theme, perfect for walking through the nature and look all the plants are blooming. Made with endless love for the spring season. Pieceful and calming.

Thanks for this Martin!

Today I’m presenting you with the track Nostalgia by the Japanese composer and piano player Hiroki Saitoh, based in Tokyo. Hiroki has studied the piano since the age of 10 and also music theory from the age of 18. He then started his professional career as a composer and piano player as well.

The track Nostalgia was released as a single on the 5th of march, 2023.

Tell us something about your track Nostalgia!
The gentle piano tones and the simple yet emotional phrases weave a world, which evokes nostalgia and reminds a listener of a heartfelt childhood memory that we all have somewhere on our mind. In the hope of meeting myself in those days, I made this song by drawing an inspiration from a secret little playground in a wood of fallen leaves where my daughter and I used to play. Through this song, I look forward meeting myself back then.

Thank you very much for this Hiroki!

Today I’m presenting you with the track When the wind calls you by the German composer and piano player Freigeflyhl from Wolfsburg, now based in Bochum. Freigefyhl started to play the piano at the age of five and recorded and released his first own piano piece at the age of 26.

The track When the wind calls you was released on the album Freigefyhl on the 15th of march, 2023.

Tell us something about your track When the wind calls you!
The piano piece When The Wind Calls You was inspired by the anime music of Joe Hisaishi, who made the soundtrack for all Studio Ghibli movies like “Spirited Away”, “Howl’s Moving Castle”, “Princess Mononoke” or “My Neighbor Totoro”. The song was recorded with the grand piano sound “Noire” from German neoclassical pianist Nils Frahm and mastered by award-winning composer Zac Tiessen from Canada.

Thank you very much for this!

Today I’m presenting you with the track Luna by the Swiss composer and piano player Nick Mateo.

The track was released as a single on the 31st of January, 2023.

Tell us something about your track Luna!
My inspiration were my late bicycle rides home with the moon shining from the sky.

Thanks Nick!

Today I’m presenting you with the brand new track Pipe Dream by the British composer and piano player Helen Keeling-Marston. Helen lives in Hampshire and has been composing contemporary classical music for about eight years. She started playing the piano as a child.

The track Pipe Dream was released as a single on the 3rd of march, 2023.

Tell us something about the track Pipe Dream!
Pipe Dream is a minimalistic, dreamy felt piano piece that attempts to capture the wistful positivity of a pipe dream. A pipe dream is an illusory plan – something I think we all like to indulge in from time to time! Take me, for example, I’m flying to the Maldives this weekend to get away from the freezing British weather. I wish 🙂

Thanks for sharing this with us Helen!