Music for Detuned Pianos (Vinyl 12″ Album) – Max De Wardener

Drawing inspiration from modernist composers James Tenney, Harry Partch and La Monte Young, de Wardener’s intentions here were ‘to try and bend something established and monumental into something new’. The resulting album is deceptively simple, belying the project’s myriad technical challenges, (pianos are immensely stubborn when subject to unorthodox tuning methods). Captured over a two year period, Downes’ enlivening improvisations do justice to de Wardener’s vision in creating an elegant record that feels at once familiar, yet otherworldly.