For many, the piano is something either associated with classical music’s more ornate flourishes or found barrelling away at the back of a blues band. One of the many great things about Paul Terry is that he reminds us that the piano, like any instrument, is just a tool in the music maker’s arsenal, something they can use to realize the sonic vision in their head. That might sound blunt, but it is true, and any instrument belongs anywhere and sounds any way at the artist’s discretion. And never has that been more true than in the current, post-genre age of music.
Alternative Piano Club, his latest album, is not only a compilation of tracks selected from over 25 years of music making and from three distinct musical personalities, but it is an album that, even when it doesn’t always put the piano to the fore, is certainly underpinned and informed by its brilliant, beautiful, and occasionally brooding presence.
And if opener, “Momento Mori (Chromogenic Phase)” is an emotive, cinematic soundtrack, “Three Years of Roses,” part of his more singer-songwriter infused, Cellarscape project, is the sound of an acoustic guitar/piano dueting as his meloncholy words drift across the surface, reminiscent, perhaps of some of those formative, underground indie bands of the early eighties that were lost gems on small labels such as Sarah and Postcard Records.
“Dave’s Theme,” which I mention for obvious reasons, is a short and charming sweep of serene sounds, and “This Is My Home” sees him join forces with Silas Miami & Lana Crowster for a floating and filmic array of resonant, occasionally sonorous, piano lines, shimmering synths and distant voices.
The only Aptøsrs piece (although that project is still very much doing the rounds and in the public consciousness) ends this fantastic album: the alternative, piano version of “Rust Mountain (Monochrome Piano Version),” deep, dark, dense, and delightful. It is also Terry’s current single.
It would take a much more extensive album to do Paul Terry justice, after all, this is someone with more than 600 tracks permanently residing in the British Library’s prestigious Sound & Moving Image collection, but this is a great place to start. A brilliant reminder that, if I might just resort to cliche, it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it …or should that be, it ain’t what you play, it’s the way that you play it?
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