As the sun begins to peak through the blinds, and flowers dust the air with pollen, the internal weather of Piano Magic remains rife with jostling waters and louring rainclouds. After traipsing through the prickly glitch electronica fields of Opencast Heart, this ep harvests material from warm yet weary analogue synths, ethereal bell tones, and clanging, metallic percussion.
The horrorflick rasping, vague liminal noises, and ghostly keyboard themes, underpinned by the chilling, sharp vocals of Angele David-Guillou, sketch an atmosphere that is distinctly gothic, and permeated by a rather dire, urgent quality. As he so often does, Glen Johnson reveals himself to be a lyricist of some imagination, dabbing these bruised, throbbing compositions of low key bravado with particular, elegant turns of phrase. Amidst the rubbery, fluttering pads, and frosty, cyclical keyboard motif of ¨I Have Moved Into The Shadow¨, Guillou sings ¨Across the frozen lake/ Beneath the tattered flags/ A carnival of skates/ The scissors scratch their names/ Where once I held your hand/ I cannot bear to stand¨, focusing the otherwise wayward energy of this nocturnal, languid march into something unified, coherent, and altogether affecting.
The group is to be commended for curbing the ep to four precise tracks, each of which treads through wispy organ drones, and murky analogue delays, but does so from numerous angles. The final track, ¨The Lights Come On At Three¨, for instance, is buoyed by a granular organ that beams through the circling harmonic patterns like a forlorn asteroid, while Johnson’ murmuring voice drifts through the blue and gray mist of soft, swirling analogue textures. Certainly, this dark, enigmatic approach is well-worn, but Piano Magic weave these threads together in a convincing, hypnotic manner. The result is such that even in the sprightly summer months, these spectral compositions still seem relevant, even necessary, and as such, this album will only further bewitch those already under the group’ spell.
