Nick Storring - Music From Wei [Orange Milk Records 161]

Released via US-based imprint Orange Milk Records on August 19th, 2k22 is "Music From Wei", the third full length album outing created by Toronto's Nick Storring for the label since his 2014 label-debut. Over the course of eight movements originally written for Yvonne Ng's dance performance piece "Wei" and a total playtime of roughly 49 minutes Mr. Storring explores a sonic realm derived from one single instrument alone - the piano, albeit several iterations of the instrument, multi-tracked, layered and intertwined. Upright, grand, prepared and unprepared, located in multiple venues, with a Disklavier in the mix somewhere, recorded through several microphones and devices, even getting up close and personal with the instruments mechanical aspects the result is a well capturing, oftentimes touching journey through the entire spectrum the piano can provide - from spatial single tone Ambient notions to buzzing, highly agitated sound waves, from dreamy passages to cascading crystalline sparkles, tender ambience bordering near silence as well as more twisted, alienated, even electroacoustic-leaning, somewhat droning sequences ("V") and fascinatingly stumbling, mechanical UltraPhonk which makes "VI" our favorite cut on this longplayer by far because it could easily and well fit into an Electronica- x Indietronica-focused DJ-set without sticking out as coming from a background that could be described as Modern Classical x Contemporary Classical for the acute lack of a better, more suitable genre drawer. Defo one to check out, this.

Album artwork on Instagram!