This year, piano and coffee turns five, and to celebrate, we are releasing our first compilation: Realismo Mágico — a conceptual project featuring unconventional works by new and old friends we have made along the way.

Inspired by magical realism, an artistic genre in which realistic narrative and naturalistic technique are combined with surreal elements of dream or fantasy, this special release presents unheard material by twelve exceptional musicians — from experimental sound artist Martyna Basta to award-winning film composer Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres, and from poly-instrumental duo Brueder Selke to prolific pianist and producer John Hayes.

Each artist has contributed with a new track that invites the listeners to submerge into their very own musical universes, which, at the same time, have been re-shaped by their interpretation of magical realism. We start off on our journey with the delicate nostalgia of Tim Linghaus, passing through Jakob Lindhagen and Vargkvint’s modern take on the story of a Norse mythological creature, followed by the harmonic ambiguity in Simeon Walker’s pleasingly strong dialogue between felted piano and drums. Later on, John Hayes shares with us a chaotic composition born out of samples from an old clock in his parents’ garage and saturated voices, which precedes Lucy Claire’s processed hydrophone recordings of seaweeds and starfishes in Australian waters. Ondes Martenot, pump organ, zither, analogue synthesizers, vocal processing, musical saw, and bowed gongs are some of the unusual elements to be found on this eclectic yet coherently unified record.

Realismo Mágico has been conceptually crafted and musically curated by Peruvian composer Sergio Díaz De Rojas, and beautifully depicted by illustrator Jordan Amy Lee and graphic designer Celia Fernández González.

Lucy Claire - Kelp

"Första Snön" is a single released for Piano Day 2021 by the Swedish composer/pianist Jakob Lindhagen. The track is taken from "Piano Cloud Series - Volume Six" that's also featuring Dmitry Evgrafov, Matti Bye, Library Tapes, Elliott Jacqués, Gabriela Parra et al.

Stream/DL: www.1631recordings.bandcamp.com/album/piano-cloud-series-volume-six

Jakob Lindhagen - Första Snön

String figures are a storytelling activity and an age old form of spiritual play. There are hundreds of them, from all over the world, often representing things from nature or day to day objects or activities. The long days of the Covid-19 pandemic UK lockdown and a bewildered mind led me to learning a number of them, picking at random for a welcome distraction. As the months went by and the lockdown continued, I began writing simple melodies to represent the simple, innocent and playful movements of two hands, a piece of string and the passing of time. There was so much uncertainty within the monotonous days and I think this also comes out in the pieces. 

My brilliant friends Mainly Two, a violin duo, recorded this collection of miniatures in the depths of the Black Forest in Germany 48°49'42.4"N 8°23’09.6”E. It had to be outside, everything had to be outside during that time, so you’ll also hear the soundscape of the forest, distant traffic and airplanes that surrounded them.

String Figures

Butterflies

Breastbone And Ribs

Mouse

Apache Door

Many Stars

The final moments of an hour-long piano improvisation in Port Meadow, Oxford. Released for #PianoDay 2016. Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1CVLS0-ZYI&feature=youtu.be 

Duck

Recorded for Nils Frahm's Piano Day on 29th March 2018

Polaroid Notes - Oh Dear Heart

Piano Works is the second installment of Lucy Claire’s ‘Works’ series. It is an eclectic take on what piano music can be. Featuring cellist Ren Ford (Keaton Henson’s Romantic Works) and violinist Marie Schreer (The Royal Northern Sinfonia) and surrounded in atmospheric binaural soundscapes, the piano is far from lonely. The work features a collection of pianos from grands and uprights, to electric keyboards, toy and thumb pianos. It is grounded in the real world but hints strongly at the magical and supernatural, it absorbs, transports, then delivers you back to reality with new perspective.

Thumb

www.1631recordings.bandcamp.com

#PianoDay2020

Apache Door

Lucy Claire

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