When modern jazz, classical music, elegant cutting edge electronica and free spirit merge. For the second installment of Sonic Exposure I caught up with Piano Interrupted—a promising UK-based outfit that breathes new life into electronically tweaked jazz—to talk about their debut album, improvisation, musical influences and what’s in the pipeline.
Piano Interrupted is the brainchild of Tom Hodge (piano) and Franz Kirmann (electronics). Piano Interrupted’s debut album Two By Four—that was originally released on Days Of Being Wild in 2012 and is now re-released on Denovali with bonus material and getting wider distribution—also features Eric Young on percussion and Greg Hall on cello. Same goes for the live line up.
Nils Frahm, Ametsub, Swod and even the legendary e.s.t. and famous Italian composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi come to mind when listening to Two By Four, and the seductive Arabic Classical flavor occasionally presented in the music also made me think of famous Tunisian oud player and composer Anouar Brahem. That said, this creative and forward-thinking outfit doesn’t sound like anybody else, and certainly doesn’t try to imitate anybody. These guys have a sound and style of their own.
Piano, often craftily manipulated, firmly leads the way without overshadowing the other instruments, leaving space for the strings to cast their spell, and for electronics and percussion to throb and tingle the mind dynamically and cunningly. Two By Four is seminal and genre-bending. It displays potential and spark, and is contemporary and fresh but not trendy. This Denovali reissue does feel more like a non-conceptual compilation than an album, like it was made as an introduction, in order to show all the different sides of Piano Interrupted and let us hear what these guys are capable of, without sticking to a specific story or formula. It is an excellent debut and I have a feeling a harbinger of even better and more crystallized things to come.
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Igloo :: Hey there Tom and Franz. Please introduce yourselves to our readers, tell us how you guys met and how Piano Interrupted started.
Franz Kirmann :: Hello, I’m Franz Kirmann, the “interrupted” part of Piano Interrupted! Tom and I had known each other for quite a while before we started Piano Interrupted. He was involved in a film project I was editing and that’s how we met. At the time I was editing and producing various things through my production company here in London and music was very much a side thing for me. A true passion but not my daily job but I guess, I got more confident with time and started playing live with a laptop and putting out records. One day Tom asked me if I’d like to do a piece with him based on piano ideas he had. We had no preconceived ideas, we just followed our instinct I suppose. That track eventually became “You Don’t Love Me Yet”, which is opening our record.
Tom Hodge :: Hi. I’m Tom Hodge, the “piano” part of Piano Interrupted. As well as playing the piano, I have written the score for three feature films, many commercials, the odd animation, a fashion show and I am currently writing an 80 minute orchestral ballet for Thüringen State Ballet. Lots of my work is alone so it’s great to be in a collaboration like Piano Interrupted with Franz, where you can share and explore ideas and musical territory that you would not otherwise think of or enter into alone.
Denovali’s reissue of your 2012 debut album, Two By Four exhibits a wide range of materials and styles. Tell us about the music on Two By Four and what it represents for you.
F :: Two By Four is a summary of all the music we have done for the last 3 years. Piano Interrupted has evolved in stages, first it was just laptop and piano samples, very electronic, very studio based. Lots of cut and paste, manipulation and actually little playing as such. Then we wanted to play it live, and we added other instruments, most notably cello (played by Greg Hall) and piano playing took a larger place. That in turn informed the following recordings. Then we did the score for a documentary about a Tunisian musician named Hedi Jouini, so there was an Arabic influence that sneaked into our sound. And all that is on the record. So Two By Four is, at least for me, a way of looking back and say this is what we’ve done, now what’s next?! But I guess the same can be said of all first albums, they are often the product of all the years before you get that record deal. Whereas the next one will be the snapshot of a shorter period of time.
T :: Yes, it has been a very exploratory period. And it is absolutely a summation of our journey thus far. As Franz mentioned, we had no preconceived ideas, so I guess we just drew on the wide range of stuff that inspired the two of us individually and collectively. Writing a documentary score with an Arabic theme really focused the sound for a while too.
How much of the music you play live is improvised, and how dominant is the roll of improvisation in your creative process in the studio?
F :: In the studio we tend to start from an idea that we have, could be a sample, a melodic line, a sound or texture, anything really. Then Tom will either write a piano part from that or improvise on the piano and we will record that improvisation. We build the track from there, adding what we feel is right. When we play live, we have an agreed structure to each piece, so we know the “in” and “out” points of each parts. I have to lay the elements to take us to that end point and Tom tends to improvise in between.
T :: It was a massive challenge finding a live solution to Piano Interrupted, coming from such a studio-based concept. I consider improvisation an essential part of my music-making. It’s really helpful for keeping the brain full of fresh new ideas- it’s fast composition, basically! So it was very important for me to have improvisation at the heart of the live project. We spent many months reconsidering the laptop as a sort-of improvising chamber music instrument. Now it’s really enjoyable seeing all our pieces evolve as a result of the live performances- different themes reasserting themselves at different times. We will never be one of those bands that simply recreates their album sound. That doesn’t make sense to me. In the studio, improvisation is key too, especially at the piano record stage. By the time we get to cello and other instruments, we usually have at least a series of strong concepts to work to, so I score out a good number of the parts. Although of course we leave some improvisatory room for the great musicians we work with to express themselves.
Based on Two By Four I’m assuming you have a colorful taste in music. What are your musical influences?
F :: Personally I listen to a lot of different things. I need music constantly, mine and other people’s. Lots of electronic things obviously, from techno to ambient but also jazz, soundtracks and pop. In the last few years musicians and producers that have been a big influence on me are Fennesz, Four Tet and Pan American. I listen to a lot of post-punk and new wave things as well but you can’t hear that influence much in Piano Interrupted.
T :: I guess my original influences were learning Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt & Bartok on the piano. I then got very into Gershwin for a while. And from him to the great 60s jazz pianists like Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock. Now I enjoy all sorts, but a fair bit of Steve Reich and John Adams, and I also listen/go to a lot of opera as my wife is a coloratura soprano. And I have to admit, when I have been composing all day, I enjoy silence.
Why did you choose to work with Nils Frahm on the mastering process?
F :: Tom met him in Germany. We like his music a lot and we like the sound he gives to the Erased Tapes records he masters. So we thought it would be good to work with him. He’s great because he’s as much into Satie than he’s into Boards Of Canada!
T :: Yes, that about sums it up. He makes beautiful coffee too! We were lucky we caught him when he had a bit of time. He’s even more busy now, so we are probably going to have beg him to master the second album. In fact… Nils… please…
Are there any live shows planned for the coming months?
T :: Yes… Lots! We are in the Czech Republic in May, Poland in July, Belgium in August, and back and forth to Germany too. Most exciting will be November when we tour and share our new material from the next album with everyone.
What can you tell us about the new album? Is there already a release date?
F :: The album is scheduled for November 15th. We’re heavily into production right now. I think it’s a bit early to really talk about it but we have all the tracks in various states of completion.There’s still a bit of recording to do and some heavy heavy editing! And also the small matter of naming them…
T :: Yes, we are delighted to share with everyone for the first time that the release date is 15th November 2013. We can’t say too much now of course- there are about 10 or 11 tracks in the pipeline and one thing we might mention is that we are using double bass for the first time!
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Piano Interrupted | Two By Four | Denovali
