Piano Magic

Piano Magic was formed in the summer of 1996 by Glen Johnson, Dominic Chennell, and Dick Rance in London, England, as a bedroom-studio project with the intention to base their recordings around a small nucleus and whomever else would like to contribute. Reluctant to perform live, they eventually gave way to label pressure recruiting Paul Tornbohm on the way but pointedly playing none of their released material. By 1998 they had harvested a catalogue of varied singles, EPs and two albums with a plethora of sonic stylings, from the more experimental smallbeat Meccano Pop on debut album, Popular Mechanics 1997 (try Everything Works Beautifully) to the breathless, ethereal, multi-layered melancholy of Low Birth Weight 1998 (try Not Fair).

By 1999, with only Johnson remaining from the original trio and the band taking on a more conventional guise, they began to build something of a cult following on the European continent. They showcased the post-modernist baroque sound of Artists' Rifles 1999 at the Benicassim and BAM music festivals. Always more popular abroad than in their homeland, tours of Germany, Holland, Italy, Belgium, France, Spain peppered the next few years.

The band signed to 4AD Records in 2000 and delivered perhaps their most critically contentious work, Writers Without Homes and the soundtrack to Spanish director, Bigas Lunas' Son de Mar movie. Though oft-maligned, Writers Without Homes was notable for featuring the first vocal recording for thirty-three years of lost 60's/70's folk heroine, Vashti Bunyan.

Post-’Writers', Piano Magic settled into a stable group format. Drafting in French musicians, Jerome Tcherneyan and Franck Alba alongside English bassist, Alasdair Steer, they recorded The Troubled Sleep Of Piano Magic (try Saint Marie), for Spanish independent, Green Ufos. This album encapsulated the live sound of the group - delicate vocals, glistening guitars, insistent drums, anthemic synth washes. A new record, 'Saint Marie EP' 2004 followed and featured collaborations with, again, Vashti Bunyan, Alan Sparhawk from Low and Ben Ayres from Cornershop.

Piano Magic's 2005 album, Disaffected, extended into an even more melodic, near-on "pop" sound. It features guest vocal contributions from John Grant of The Czars and Angle David-Guillou of Klima.

In the interim years between the release of 'Disaffected' and their newest album, part-monster 2007, the band continued a prolific concert schedule including dates in Turkey, Poland, Italy, Greece and Portugal. Johnson also released a debut album of experimental electronic under the name 'Textile Ranch' and along with keyboardist, Cedric Pin, as 'Future Conditional'.

To date, Piano Magic has recorded seven albums, a double CD retrospective and many, many singles. They've outlived several of the labels they’ve recorded for and show no signs of stopping.

Piano Magic is Franck Alba, Glen Johnson, Cedric Pin, Alasdair Steer, Jerome Tcherneyan.

www.piano-magic.co.uk