Les Nuages

4th most listened Finnish pianist (Spotify 12/2023) releases solo piano album
from legendary Mons Records
”Intimate & emotional (…) pure sincerity”
— Active Light Records, Canada
”Soul’s melody hums, echoes of heart’s true song, harmony within.”
— Piano Haiku
Finland’s only Piano Balladist, Heikki Hallanoro, makes a strong melodic mark
with his sensitive and delicate piano pieces that are delivered with such a
tenderness and bold simplicity that it is not just beautiful but simply – shines
truth.
Heikki, once a promising astronomer who discovered the origins of Saturn’s
rings, a boy of an alcoholic mother who has no classical training, but who has
played his own songs on piano since a little boy and makes his living playing
live his ennobling and relaxing Piano Ballads, got immediately signed with
his first piano solo album by legendary jazz/classical record company Mons
Records, a label that has released albums from such artists as Clark Terry
(trumpetist of Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington), Manu Katché (drummer of
Sting, Peter Gabriel, Joni Mitchell) and Bob Mintzer (saxophonist of Buddy
Rich, Jaco Pastorius, Tito Puente), among others.
Bon Voyage!
Soul Songs album comprises 8 felt piano pieces that unite minimalistic modern
classical idiom and Arvo Pärt kind of quietness and spirituality. Soul Songs are
not named but numbered (Soul Song No. 1, Soul Song No. 2, etc.), but they
paint vivid scenes. “My intension was to create safe and comforting space for
listener to embark on inner journey.” Heikki didn’t want to name the songs
and direct listeners impression any way since he knew from own experience
that same song can evoke different emotions and memories at different times.
“Songs are continuous and ever-evolving, and they work like magic, since so
are we.”
Old piano like mother elephant
On Soul Songs album Heikki plays over 100 years old piano. It has extremely
dark sound, behaves like a mother elephant, who remembers too many
graveyards. Recordings were engineered by the studio guru Pentti Amore
with 3 gold albums and a the most sold physical album in Finland 2020. Pentti
also mixed and mastered the album. “Presence of both of them, Piano and
Heikki, in this album is unbelievable. The setup is so sensitive – it captures all.”
— Pentti Amore

Soul Songs are Heikki Hallanoro’s life’s work
Soul Songs album series will continue. Soul Songs Vol. 2 is already recorded.
In Soul Songs album series the even albums (Soul Songs Vol. 2, Soul Songs
Vol. 4, etc.) are happy “spring/summer” albums and odd albums (Soul Songs,
Soul Songs Vol. 3, etc.) are more melancholic “winter” albums with darker hues in them.

Soul Song No. 1 - Heikki Hallanoro Repair

6 Stay With Me

No7 Hope

Written, performed & produced by Stephen Caulfield
Recorded at Parkview Studios
Mixed & mastered by Stephen Caulfield
Artwork and photographs by Stephen Caulfield

The Blue Currents EP is the second part of a double album project that I am releasing across four EPs over the next year or so. The album will follow a drop of water as it makes its way from being frozen on a glacier all the way down to the depth of the ocean. The Blue Currents EP tells the second part of the story. Musically it is primarily within the ambient genre with elements of classical contemporary, experimental electronic, lo-fi, drone and downtempo.

Drowned Lake

Pathfinder

Melody Rules

Acceptance

I recorded "Neila's Light" using my electric dulcimer, processed through Logic Pro with Valhalla DSP effects for added depth and richness.  

It's a gentle, soothing track characterized by flowing atmospheric drones, sustained tones, cascading harmonies, and steady beats.  Minimalistic approach with rhythmic and melodic elements.

This song uses a unique chord retrogression (C, G, D, A, E) - a cycle of fifths played backwards inspired by Neila Horn in her tune, "Hey Babe."   Her chord retrogression was a new sound that became a part of many hit songs in the 1960's.  Her creative influence continues to shine through this composition.

Neila's Light

Album mêlant titres de rock et néo-classique, le tout dans une ambiance rebelle et mélancolique 

Interlude

An electronic sequence created using Pure Data with additional reverb and delay to produce two  levels, one with prominent sharp sounds and the other a fuzzy background with the impression of increased distance.

More on the 725th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Rack It — The Assignment: Change the “focus” of a track as it plays — at https://disquiet.com/0725/.

Sharp and Fuzzy (disquiet0725)

I write music and record at home. Thank you for listening. I really appreciate you taking the time.

Acceptance

Stephen Cree

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