The solo project of California-based Tim Arndt, Near the Parenthesis returns after a four year hiatus to bring eight piano-based compositions that walk a delicate line between modern classical, ambient, and electronic.
Heartfelt cascades of notes rush out from Tim Arndt’s piano, to soothe and inspire
2020 has been a strange year for creativity. For a time, early in the pandemic, it felt as though everyone spending enormous amounts of time in the studio would produce a dizzying array of masterworks. But as the crisis ground on, at least for many of us in the beleaguered, rudderless United States of America, that burst of creative energy flared out into a sense of survival and settling into a grim new reality.
Which is why it’s all the more impressive to come across work from someone who was able to not just survive, but survive, and advance their art in ways that—importantly—uplift the audience as well. Near the Parenthesis’ new release Intervals, out October 16, 2020 on n5MD, is such a work. The solo project of California-based Tim Arndt, Near the Parenthesis returns after a four year hiatus to bring eight piano-based compositions that walk a delicate line between modern classical, ambient, and electronic.
The opener “Center” sets the mood immediately, with a gentle minor-key acoustic piano melody that’s soon augmented with pulsing synthesizers and a swelling bassline, brought to a gentle climax before receding. The aptly-named “Second” follows with a variation on the theme, perhaps with a bit more of a backbeat this time, evocative of Nils Frahm’s epic “Says.” Arndt comments that beginning with the piano on these tracks made him “able to focus more on the instant gratification of sitting down and just playing.”
“There Are No Waves” introduces a wordless vocalization and a nod to more traditional n5MD fare in the form of an intricate IDM snare line. The album’s title, Arndt writes, is in part “a nod to musical intervals and the spaces between notes. I think this becomes evident in my use of arpeggiation, which I feel is a grounding motif across the album.” In “Only the Ocean” this is perhaps made most explicit: the bones of the song are a simple three-note arpeggio which starts off as a bare synth motif and over the next six minutes gets subsumed by rich washes and made elaborate with ornamentation, only to reemerge on the far side to remind you it’d never really left.
Next up, “Muse” and the album’s title track follow the pattern thus established, with the former hewing more ambient and the latter approaching a backbeat groove while never losing its sense of calm, assured musicianship. Which, it should be noted, is masterful: the piano lines are varied, interesting, and performed meticulously, with enough human inflection to dispel notions of the album being purely a programming exercise.
To close out, “Oslo” introduces a more insistent bass thump and a slightly detuned keyboard line repeated and varied across the stereo field. “Sillhouette” ties the album off with a wistful, emotional rising arpeggio as heartfelt cascades of notes rush out from Arndt’s piano, to soothe and inspire.
These are indeed strange times, and it’s given to us to hang on to such positivity and comfort as we can find. Near the Parenthesis envelops you in sound like a warm blanket, providing sonic solace in an increasingly dissonant world.
Intervals is available on n5MD. [Bandcamp]
