Piano Interrupted

The brainchild of pianist and composer Tom Hodge and “electronician” Franz Kirmann, London-based duo Piano Interrupted sits at the crossroads of film music, post-classical, jazz, ambient and electronica. Since starting working together in 2009, the pair has released various EPs and three albums as well as developing the project into a vibrant live act with the addition of double bass player Tim Fairhall. Piano Interrupted’s unique sound is characterised by the meeting of Hodge’s fluid and complex piano lines that straddle a line between melancholy and edginess and the textured and dense soundscapes of Kirmann, whether created from digital manipulation or from live processing of the piano. During their recent years of touring, Piano Interrupted have also developed a strong improvisational approach, turning the computer into a full ‘live’ instrument and enabling a real dynamic dialogue between the three musicians. The pieces are then constantly reinvented and reimagined, making the live experience an often striking contrast from the records. In 2015 Piano Interrupted went to Dakar, Senegal to start work on what would eventually become the third album ‘Landscapes Of The Unfinished’. Released in March 2016 the album sees Tom Hodge and Franz Kirmann explore a more introspective approach to their sound. The sonorities and recordings the pair brought back from West Africa are deconstructed, mangled and texturised, turned into a pointillist landscape until only a faint and distant souvenir remains. These beds of pulsating soundscapes and earthy textures serve as base for Hodge’s delicate piano phrases and intricate compositions, interlaced with Tim Fairhall’s fluid double bass playing. The overall tone of the album reflects the duo’s desire to explore a new direction, different from the first two albums’ intricate programming and editing and instead go towards a writing and recording experience directly inspired by their live experience. Hodge’s clarinet, an important facet of the Piano Interrupted live show, is captured on record for the first time. Landscapes of the Unfinished Cd | LP | Digital out now on Denovali Records