What does Kelly Moran sound like?

Alternative pianist and composer, returning back to more classical roots.

The review of Kelly Moran – Visela

When you’ve largely known an artist for being wildly experimental and tackling piano-based music in unusual ways, there is a morbid curiosity for what their take on more traditional piano music might sound like. For Kelly Moran, ‘Vesela’ is that release in many regards. By classical piano standards, this is still extremely fringe and artistic. However, with sweeping and theatrical motifs and melodies at the forefront of this EP, ‘Vesela’ is the easiest way to break into Moran’s music.

The EP contains three meaty and varied compositions. Kelly opens with the title piece which starts off like a sway giant with low octave chords gracefully bounding forward. These are then joined by ever-unfurling trickles of higher notes that sound almost algorithmic. It is as if Kelly Moran is imitating an aftertouch plugin but I believe it is all Kelly. It’s a beautiful track that stirs the emotions and leads us into the shimmering beauty of ‘Soft Focus’. Here, rumbles of chords and notes spend their time reaching a fever pitch gaussian blur of dramatic booms over its length. Kelly Moran uses long tail reverb to smudge the piano into a bassy rumble and as she pounds the piano at the three-quarter mark, the production sounds divine.

The final track is ‘Medusa (Variations on a theme by Sakamoto)’. This beautiful seven-minute epic evokes a light shimmer that permeates around a few chords and notes. Kelly embellishes around them like an improvisational music box of sympathetic notes and I’m sure Moran’s trademark prepared piano noises are hiding away in the background too. It is simultaneously symphonic, dramatic, mysterious and elegant.

‘Vesela’ is a Slavic word for cheerful and that bares out here. Each of these songs imbue a sense of romanticism to them. They sound like comfort, wrapped up in a hazy, complex piano swarm. If you enjoy the more abstract side of Icelandic piano-based compositions, then ‘Vesela’ would be a great EP to pick up and dive into. Fans of Kelly Moran’s previous darker and more abstract work – fear not. There is so much emotion packed into each song, that you’ll be more than catered for, even if you came from the caustic hedonistic chaos of 2017’s ‘bloodroot‘.

Recommended track: Vesela

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