Piano music, even considering the neoclassical movement that sprouted (briefly) during the beginning of the last decade, is still regarded as a formalist type of art. It’s rare to see artists in the mainstream and even in the blogosphere break through the model. When such event takes place, we end up getting Max Richter‘s deeply rooted Romanticism or Nils Frahm‘s more agitated experiments.
Enter Beau Sorenson, the San Francisco-based artist and experimentalist releasing music under his Beaunoise moniker. In the recently released Pianoworks, Sorenson puts together nine reworked and processed piano pieces that, in conjunction, span a nine-year period of work. Yet, it is a collection that sounds a lot like a cohesive unit: to the piano Beau adds overdubbing, sampling, tape destruction and other effects that help conjure a more complex array of ideas and emotions.
Pianoworks can be purchased via Beaunoise’s own Bandcamp.
