Posted by London based composer James Heather returns with new piece ‘Passing Soul’.
The musician’s debut album dipped into ambient climes, using the piano as his central instrument.
A gorgeous listen, it earned comparisons with Nils Frahm with its pensive, frosted atmosphere and gorgeous, highly suggestive use of melody.
New project ‘Modulations: EP2’ ends a lengthy wait for new material, a period in which James has overhauled his home studio.
Looking once more at the piano, the EP is a cycle of meditative pieces that find the composer reflecting on a period of loss, and our current dystopia.
Out on May 28th via Coldcut’s other label Ahead Of Our Time, the EP is led by the softly enticing piece ‘Passing Soul’.
“It’s fantastic to be back and finally sharing new music again,” he comments. “The EP is concerned with the journey as people pass away and what happens after. As I was putting out my last release I was also looking after my much-missed Dad as a carer whose cancer had spread to his brain. He was there in body but his soul – and what an amazing soul it was! – was starting to fade; I wondered if memories of his life were flashing behind his eyelids and what he might have been thinking, if at all.”
“I started to think more about the transient soul and the body and how connected they were and also about the taboo of talking about death too much and this really hit home in the last year, it’s something we all ultimately share in a world of division. It was recorded in my new studio on a refurbished Bosendorfer 200 grand piano.”
A truly immersive piece of music, ‘Passing Soul’ seems to wash over you in waves, gently enfolding you in sound.
A simple yet starkly persuasive composition, it’s a sign that James Heather’s new EP has been worth waiting for.
Tune in now.
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