Jedadiah Bernards - two poems/piano - (2012, Vintermusik)

This is official debut release of a young musician from Portland, Oregon : two short concise piano pieces for a total length underneath four minutes.

The contrast with the capharnaum which is his Soundcloud page is surprising.

If it's uncluttered, these two tracks are far from being simple sketches. It is sold as a 5” Lathe cut record limited to 100 handmade copies with a digital version.

These tracks have been recorded in a church near his hometown and have been inspired by poems of Mary Jo Salter. Started as haikus and he developed them, using the natural reverberation and the atmosphere of the place.

But it's not church music and it tells much more about its author. I love thir natural echo, their sound imperfection, and their shortness really helps to create an unexpected urgency. It's like the very instant, once a year the sunlight follows a secret path of revelation through the stained glass windows.

I became really tired of the use of piano music inside this ambient/electronic/etc. instrumental scene, as often it lacks of depth, of an intimate sense of melancholy and mostly of authenticity. Three elements present here and glorified by a subtle and intuitive sense of textures.

First steps must be radical and it's the case here.

I also deeply recommend passing through the tracks on his Soundcloud page too. Some are trials by errors but other ones show this very same identity and sensitivity. I particularly enjoy the tracks he recorded as an homage to Matthew Shepard.

http://www.vintermusik.com/ 

http://soundcloud.com/jedadiahbernards