CD

Influenced by the neo-romantic emotional minimalism of such artists as Max Richter, Bing & Ruth, Terry Riley and Steve Reich, Music for Mourning attempts to capture the emotions and feelings associated with a sense of mourning or loss via fast, schizophrenic juxtapositions of mood. “I like to restrict myself to a key, a series of notes, a repeating motive and improvise around it to see what comes out,” says Poppy Nogood. “I also believe that truth can come out through improvisation – being forced to make decisions in the moment and following natural instincts.” Having started learning classical violin from the age of three, Poppy Nogood is much more interested in understanding how the violin can be used in his own unique way rather than for technical virtuosity. He’s also obsessed with Romantic music and the idea of conveying a narrative of individual struggle through music, and is looking for a sound that is both tragic and beautiful. “Recording is an integral part of my composition process,” he says “I really don’t know where I’m going until I start recording.” Poppy Nogood is an American composer and violinist. Music for Mourning is his first album on Preserved Sound.

Influenced by such composers as Sergei Rachmaninov, Valentin Silvestrov, Morton Subotnick, François Bayle and Iannis Xenakis, Ales Tsurko uses composition techniques from contemporary classical music and mixes them with elements from the non-academic and electronic fields of music, as well as post rock and shoegaze music. Ales Tsurko is a self-taught composer from Minsk, Belarus. He is also the founder of the Society for the Development of New Music, the purpose of which is to develop and promote contemporary classical music. This is his first album on Preserved Sound

Seeking perfection in minimalism, Vitaly describes his sound on Imperfect as – piano, mood, simplicity. “The world is imperfect, and people are imperfect – their ideas and actions. Music can also be ‘imperfect’ – but that does not make it unambiguously good or bad. The relative simplicity of melodies, unusual piano sound, piano playing and emotional states – all this can be called imperfection.” Attaching strips of fabric to the piano strings of an upright piano at the Dnepropetrovsk Conservatory, Vitaly asked the sound engineer to be left alone and recorded the pieces in one sitting. Only after recording the piano did Vitaly understand that the album would be called Imperfect. “To some extent, I always try to reach a certain perfection – at work, at home, or within my daily routine. But when I sit down at the piano – everything is different. I rely on feelings, emotions, and give freedom to the fingers. More than anything, with these nine pieces, I’ve tried to achieve a level of honesty with the listener.”