Denovali Records presents: Poppy Ackroyd + Piano Interrupted + Carlos Cipa

POPPY ACKROYD

Poppy Ackroyd is a performer and composer from London who is currently based in Edinburgh. Classically trained on violin and piano, she fell in love with contemporary piano music and with the piano beyond the keys, discovering the world of sound that could be made from other parts of the instrument. Realising the violin had the same potential, she has spent the last few years composing delicate, intricate and beautifully atmospheric music by manipulating and multi-tracking sounds from these two instruments.

Her songs stay true to this idea. Every sound, with the exception of a few field recordings, is created using only either the piano or the violin. The songs are a combination of piano melodies and chords - played both conventionally or created inside the piano using fingers, e-bows and plectrums - violin textures, melodies and pizzicato riffs and finally delicate beats composed of hits, plucks, taps and scrapes made using hands, drumsticks, beaters and small cymbals on either the frame, strings or dampers of the piano. There are often five or more different percussive lines working alongside each other. In order to compose in this way, Poppy had to learn how to record and produce the music herself, as working with someone else would have been far too time consuming. Having discovered and restored a beautiful but neglected grand piano, she bought a laptop, digital recorder and speakers. Everything from the piano is recorded in her home studio with just this one microphone.

For the last few years Poppy has been recording and touring extensively with Hidden Orchestra, composing and performing live soundtracks for contemporary dance and physical theatre works, and collaborating with other musicians, artists, filmmakers, actors, sound designers and radio documentary producers.

www.denovali.com/poppyackroyd

PIANO INTERRUPTED

Piano Interrupted is the brainchild of London-based pianist and composer Tom Hodge and French electronic producer Franz Kirmann. Coming from two very different musical worlds (electronica, pop and techno for Franz; classical and minimalism for Tom), the two musicians had been friends for a long time before deciding to make music together.

Their working process involves digital manipulation of musical phrases originally played by Tom on the piano but that has now extended to other instruments or any sounds that the pair find interesting to sample and process sonically. The resulting music is a blend of post-classical and ambient, where organic electronic beats pulse over intricate sonic textures and unusual time signatures, where contemplative moments contrast with elaborative and complex melodies.
The duo’s first output was a limited 7” self-release under the name Kirmann and Hodge and simply entitled Piano Interrupted. Released in Spring 2009, it was well received, and encouraged them to push things further. Another EP informed by the live performances they had started doing as Piano Interrupted was released in September 2011. This second EP featured Eric Young on drums and percussion and gave the record an organic warm feel, in contrast with the stark colder sound of their earlier work.

Tom and Franz were then asked to write the score to Papa Hédi, a documentary about the life and times of musician Hédi Jouini, Tunisia’s most important and celebrated composer. Jouini’s music acted as a starting point for the compositions, giving the music a distinctly Arabic colour. This time Piano Interrupted’s live cellist, Greg Hall, was added to the recording process, bringing an even stronger lyricism and cinematic feel to Kirmann and Hodge’s sound. The resulting EP was also very well received; the track Hobi being widely praised and played by DJs around the world, from Laurent Garnier, to Jennifer Cardini and Ben Watt (Everything But The Girl)

www.denovali.com/pianointerrupted

CARLOS CIPA

Carlos Cipa discovered his passion for music very early in his life. At the age of six he began taking classical piano lessons with various renowned teachers. Ten years later after he started playing drums he became more and more interested in composition and improvisation. In the following years he made lots of experiences in many music styles like jazz, punk, indie rock and orchestral music.

Influenced by Eric Satie and Claude Debussy his piano music impresses particularly because of its intensity and great attention to detail. It's not only enhanced by his classical background and symphonic film music works, but also by the experiences he made as drummer in different bands. Besides the piano he is interested in all different kinds of instruments, as experimenting takes an important role in his work. Carlos currently studies composition at the academy of music in Munich.

www.denovali.com/carloscipa