Esteemed composer and pianist Henrik Lindstrand presents his new album ‘Klangland’, out via One Little Independent, on March 10th, recorded in Berlin by engineer Francesco Donadello and conducted by The London Contemporary Orchestra’s Robert Ames.
Following the release of his lauded solo piano trilogy, Henrik Lindstrand felt the need to expand his vision, in doing so he embarked on his most challenging sonic journey to date in a bid to discover new instrumental narratives and ways to convey emotion through concentrated melody alone.
It’s a hunt that has defined his musical career so far, and on ‘Klangland’, his fourth studio album, he took an exacting approach to the process, utilizing a stirring 16-piece string section.
He tells us that new single ‘Post’ was
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“the last piece that I wrote for the album and again, I wanted to write a piece that was dedicated to the string section. I had this idea pictured in my head; the final scene of an Italian movie from the late 1950s. Where the protagonist takes her big car and drives along the coast of Western Italy and then the closing titles come. Basically, a metaphor for what was going through my mind when writing, and the introduction came as a tag addition later because I also wanted it to sound a bit more modern, and not rely too much on the past”.
Henrik has a longstanding relationship with strings as it is (his name is attached to several orchestral soundtracks) so on his aural travels, he found himself once again at home, albeit in a different way. This is echoed in his real life, he had relocated with his family to the West coast of Sealand, away from the city, and his explorations became a way for him to express something of a transitionary period.
He wrote an almost complete album before scrapping it and starting again, coveting further reinvention the more he pushed himself.
Henrik’s talents lie in the expression of complex emotions with minimalist compositions. He believes in the importance of space, and that the gaps between keys are as crucial to his stories as the notes themselves. It’s a streamlined, effective simplicity that sheds unnecessary weight and allows each track to glide effortlessly into one’s imagination before making themselves home.
He also speaks openly about how connectivity to his space and other musicians had a healthy impact on him under current circumstances,
“It was like a playground for myself and my ideas, to throw things around just as much as I wanted to, and record them intuitively. I wanted to go back to writing without the computer. So, for the first period I only wrote sitting down by the grand piano with a piece of paper and a pen, which gave a new energy to my process. You know, it’s so unsexy to look into a screen, it doesn’t really inspire you that much. I think that it’s healthy for everyone to think about their location, even if it’s just moving your desk, whatever it is, to change your environment”.
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