Works Piano

Vinyl is available at: www.mutingthenoise.com/music/works-piano Henrik Schwarz is pleased to announce the first release on his new label, Between Buttons. Entitled 'Works Piano' and released on June 30th, the four track EP showcases the fusion of acoustic sounds, computer programming and modern technology that will define the label. The aim of the project is for German DJ, producer, live performer and Innervisions associate Henrik to step outside of his comfort zone; to write acoustic compositions in new, innovative and exciting ways. He will do so by taking all the experiences, tricks and techniques he has from making electronic music and applying them to new acoustic sounds and instruments. Chief amongst those here is the Yamaha Disklavier, an automated piano that can be played manually but also automatically via a programmed script once it is connected to a computer. “The idea is to deconstruct the piano,” says Henrik of this first EP, which he says was a “real learning process” as he has composed it, in part, by writing code. He then gets an answer from the code that may be in another rhythm or key to his original idea. All this plays out across four tracks that are composed in different ways. It means that as well as writing formal piano pieces, he is composing using software that sequences in response to his inputs. In turn, he reacts to these, edits and adjusts and goes where the music takes him, often to unpredictable places with fascinating results. Combining digitally programmed music with acoustic recording makes for sounds that are both human and analog yet estranged in ways that only a machine could conjure. First up is a traditional and tender piano piece, '4011 Liter'. There is real dynamism in the keys, which marry heavy left hand chords with delicate right hand fingers dancing over the ivories. It is an absorbing, pensive track that really draws you in. Then comes ’Where Are We Heading’, which has a computer adding something of a rhythm below Henrik’s original piano. It makes for a compelling and rather dark duality between the low down and ominous pulses and his own rippling keys up top.