Sounds like…
Delicate minuets from stately homes.
The review
There is a subdued and almost stately way to compose piano music that I usually associate with the colder, northern regions of central Europe. Hiroco.M, a Japanese composer, has brought her Japanese sensibility of traditional nobility and demure respect to the piano for her new release ‘Still’. Seeped in longingness, it is an intimate and quiet experience.
Hiroco.M recorded the album with a felt upright piano and that felt carries the soft timbre far. Each of the five tracks in the EP has a ‘did I just hear this on a gramophone?’ feel to it. Each song has a timeless vintage quality to it and whilst the compositions aren’t in your face with hooks, they do have motifs that worm their way in for repeated listeners. The standout track for me was the closer ‘Fools Eulogy’. The longest piece is also the most melodic and expressive of the EP. In sounds like Hiroco.M is dusting herself down and moving on with the album’s narrative and closing a chapter on what has come before. It is just a shame the EP is over in under 13 minutes as it is an elegant state of mind that I could sit into for ages. Cue the replay button over and over again.
Fans of Daigo Hanada will be right at home here, along with Bruno Sanfilippo as Hiroco.M’s work is melodic and restrained. Designed to be played at quiet time. Understated and thoughtful.
Recommended track: Fool’s Eulogy
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Hiroco.M - Still