Next Level Avoidance by Erik Griswold
The idea of ''prepared piano'' is something that can be similarly to the physical interaction with the actual piano that has been used, approached in so many different ways - it is impossible to predict the multiple eventualities and results that a single artist working with this instrument can take and tread.
With this notion I took up a dive into the world of the newest album by LA's born but working primarily in Brisbane, Australia - Erik Griswold whose music I have known for at least two decades.
Erik is classically trained pianist who studied at University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and University of California, San Diego before moving on to Australia in 1999. Initially to Melbourne but then settling in Brisbane. He has ever since explored the possibilities of prepared piano and focused on the work as a performing artist.
In his portfolio he has many awards as well as collaborations, especially the one with Vanessa Tomlinson.
This time we can listen to him as a solo artist on Room40 release which is not his first with this label.
It is not easy to embrace so varied, diversified work, where the nuances, the pitch, working with both silence, lower volumes, higher volumes play so important part. Elaborate and eloquent tracks that help you to understand how much mastery there is to it. Not only through technical aspect of Erik as a virtuoso but also as a composer that keeps his vision tight in the whole structure of each track. The narrative that is emphasized sometimes more, sometimes less by the treatments and techniques he is using to lead towards climaxes, twists, turns, stops, and all the important aspects of each composition alone.
It carries a certain emotional aspects, too.
Let me quote Erik himself:
''Under the house again, just me and my very old piano. Have we got anything more to say to each other? Will some new toys spice things up a bit? The creative process seems to swing like a (Foucoult’s?) pendulum, always returning to the same spot again and again, eventually. When I last made short form prepared piano pieces in 2015 (Pain Avoidance Machine) I was “feeling stifled by the negativity of the Australian political discourse, the narcissistic excess of social media, and facing a long summer of migraine-inducing heat.” If only I had known how far we had to go.
To the sounds of my 1885 Lipp and Sohn, prepared with brass bolts, strips of paper and rubber, I’ve added an analogue synthesizer, extending the exploration into the electronic. The tactile quality of both instruments is central to my approach, with small inconsistencies of sound, attack, decay, filtering all foregrounded. It’s a very intimate setting with just two C414 microphones at close distance to capture the granular details of sonic materials. The addition of “frames,” “windows,” and “sonic mirrors” produce a ritualistic aura hovering above and around the music.''
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