https://mikiplayspiano.bandcamp.com/album/a-kind-of-mirror
Genre: Classical
Rating: 5/5
released on bandcamp August 27, 2021
Upon listening to this the first frame of reference comparisons to come to mind were Steve Reich and Frédéric Chopin. Not quite as geometrical as Reich and occasionally tempered by small touches of Romanticism. Then when I googled Randall-Myers, Glenn Branca’s picture came up and it turns out he’s a guitarist. Branca’s music is raucous and crushing post-punk classical that everyone, including me, points out spawned Sonic Youth. Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore are the greatest guitar tandem ever and had the final word on rock’n’roll guitar. But yeah, I can kind of hear that in these solo piano compositions even. The building of tension and crescendo. Well, really only the first track, Shadow , uses a crescendo and there’s lots of twentieth century atonality mixed in but however I fail to describe it, the compositions are great, beautiful and engaging.
The pianist, Sawada, is fiercely on point. Her playing is fire. She’s also drop dead gorgeous which doesn’t make her any better at the piano but it does add to overall powerhouse package. Outside intangibles often increase the power and add to the mystique. Robert Plant’s jeans, for example. I’m not the only one drooling at the symphony, am I?
Oh shit, I just looked at Randall-Myers Twitter. I guess he actually played in Glenn Branca’s ensemble. Obviously, he’s a badass. Great composer, great musician, and working on great game changing projects. Even though I’m giving this a five star review I still feel like their going to track me down and kick my ass.
Warmth Highest 