Poppy Ackroyd shares new single ‘Paper’ via Self-Titled
Track taken from brand new album ‘Resolve’ out February 2nd 2018 on
One Little Indian Records
Stereogum
“It’s a beautiful, elongated five minutes or so and Ackroyd makes the whole thing seem completely effortless.”
Line of Best Fit
“It’s great to see the minimal music of pianist Poppy Ackroyd getting some love”
London In Stereo
“…a musical talent that straddles both old and new, harnessing the power and range of two very versatile instruments along with innovative use of samples and manipulation through technology. A must for fans of Silvain Chauveau, Dustin O’Halloran and Max Richter.”
405
“…staggering lovely”
Stereogum
“A composer of real talent, she’s able to work in softly advancing measures, tackling each project with real finesse.”
Clash
“Clicking, whirring, and lots of other onomatapoeia-ing goes on as soft piano and somber violin trace an intricate emotional arc.”
Spin
“Talented”
Ransom Note
“Ackroyd paints with sound, revealing strange and complex tonal shifts…”
The Skinny
Talking about the new single, Ackroyd said: “‘Paper’ is the opening track on the album and the most similar in style to my previous work. It features guest instrumentalists; Mike Lesirge on flute and clarinets, and Jo Quail on cello, but ‘Paper’ is mostly made out of sounds from the violin and piano. The name of the track comes from the paper I laid over the strings while I used fingers and piano hammers to create the percussive sounds that you hear at the start and throughout the track.”
In contrast to Ackroyd’s previous albums, for which the artist manipulated field recordings, Ackroyd has this time employed guest players on the record, in conjunction with her trademark and unique use of unconventional studio methods. Ackroyd creates percussive textures from traditional classical instruments, and the result is almost the emulation of an entire orchestra, using very few instruments combined with the artist’s incredible production skills.
The ground-breaking track and the new album explores life’s constant challenges, and many of the songs are extremely personal to Poppy. In her own words: “Resolve is about the determination to embrace the good things in life whilst dealing with unexpected and challenging difficulties. Finding the light in the dark, facing sadness and loss head on, and developing a growing inner strength.”
Although a keen collaborator outside of her solo work – having created soundtracks for film, dance, physical theatre and radio – this is the first record for which Poppy has written for and employed other players, including Manu Delago (Bjork, Cinematic Orchestra, Anoushka Shankar) playing hang, Mike Lesirge (Bonobo, Andreya Triana) playing clarinets and flute, and Jo Quail on cello.
Through studying contemporary classical piano works and listening to electronic music, Ackroyd quickly developed her signature compositional style on previous albums, using contemporary pianistic ideas whilst also inhabiting the world of sound beyond the keyboard, using extended techniques to ‘play’ other parts of the instruments as well. The intelligent artist works by recording improvised contemporary classical piano motifs and then rearranging and manipulating these sounds digitally. The result is a fantastic fusion of acoustic and electronic in a post-classical setting.
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