For more than a decade now, we’ve all been watching poor, lonely Hauschka do the “prepared piano” thing seemingly in isolation. So thank the lord that Kelly Moran is around to keep him company (and to make the prepared piano landscape a little more variable for us listeners!).
Her breakout record — 2017’s Bloodroot — is similar to the preceding Optimist in the way that its diversions from the assumed melodic paths are more common than not. Sparse notation is a feature as well on numerous tracks, and generally we’re left with a feeling that the world is spinning and that it owes us no favors. It’s pretty and not. It’s orderly and not!
Warp Records must’ve picked up on these unique talents, because they recently reached an agreement with Moran to release at least one new album. Ultraviolet is set for release November 2, and the goal, according to a press release, was to “annihilate” “experimental music’s imposing, esoteric, über-academic status quo in the name of pure, unbridled intuition” and “human joy.” In order to gain inspiration, Moran “squatted down in the forest, listening to the sounds of the wind and the wildlife” and wondered what it would take to make her music mirror the feel of her surroundings.
Pre-order the results here and (almost) gain the power of flight with the first single “Helix (Edit)” below:
Ultraviolet tracklisting:
01. Autowave
02. Helix
03. Water Music
04. Nereid
05. In Parallel
06. Halogen
07. Radian
More about: Kelly Moran
