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PIANO MAGIC - BIOGRAPHY "Ghostrock," it's been called in some corners of Europe. Piano Magic's dynamic, romantic, often brooding brand of music has a spectral presence to it that ultimately mesmerises, live and on record. This, their 6th album proper, further explores their trademark glacial sound whilst reaching out into melodic pop territory. The Smiths, 1980's 4AD and Factory Records - Piano Magic unashamedly wear their influences on their sleeves whilst managing to sound much more than a sum of their inspirations. There's no denying that this isn't happy music. You know where to go if you want that. Piano Magic deal in loneliness, in confusion, in late nights, in crumbling friendships, in dying relationships. And yet, there's heart, there's hope, there's love somewhere in there. Recorded between October 2004 and January 2005 at the group's regular studio, The Fortress, in London and their own Murder Mile home-studio, 'Disaffected' features guest vocal contributions from John Grant of The Czars and Angèle David-Guillou of Klima. Piano Magic openly refer to themselves a 'European band.' Though, London based, 4 of the band are French - Jerome Tcherneyan, Franck Alba, Cedric Pin and Angèle David-Guillou. Glen Johnson and Alasdair Steer are English. And certainly, though some of their songs deal directly with the cold reality of English city life, the emotions are universal. A startling live band, Piano Magic, regularly tour throughout Europe. Recent concerts in Spain, Greece and France have further built on an already burgeoning, devout audience. Piano Magic play the esteemed Primavera Festival in Barcelona this May.
Piano Magic SHORTFORM BIOGRAPHY From it's conception as a bedroom studio hobby in Summer 1996, Piano Magic's trajectory has never been textbook. Random at best. Originally, a self-confessed "revolving door" operation - musicians arriving, contributing and leaving as they pleased - a catalogue of varied singles, EPs and two albums were harvested by 1998. This convey-belt membership also resulted in a plethora of sonic stylings, from smallbeat Kraftwerkian "Meccano Pop" on debut album, 'Popular Mechanics' (1997) to the breathless, ethereal, multi-layered melancholy of 'Low Birth Weight' (1998). Only when founder member, Glen Johnson met Spanish drummer, Miguel Marin, in 1999 did Piano Magic resemble anything like a conventional format group. Smooth-talked into playing a Dutch festival "which actually turned out quite well," they decided to play anywhere they were wanted and began to build something of a cult following, particularly on the European Continent. Spain particularly warmed to their then pleasing coupling of baroque and Joy Division - the band played superb shows at the Benicassim and BAM music festivals, promoting the post-modernist baroque sound of 'Artists' Rifles' (1999). Ironically, the band have never infiltrated the hearts of the British music press - out of time, unfashionable and kinda weird looking, it's best not to stay home much. Tours of Germany, Holland, Italy, Belgium, France, Spain peppered the next few years. Marin left after an ill-fated stint with 4AD for which the group delivered their most critically contentious work, 'Writers Without Homes' and the soundtrack to Spanish director, Bigas Luna's 'Son De Mar' movie. Philosophical about the experience, the band regrouped, drafted in French musicians, Jerome Tcherneyan and Franck Alba and recorded 'The Troubled Sleep Of Piano Magic,' for tiny Spanish independent, Green Ufos. This album album perfectly encapsulated the live sound of the group - delicate vocals, glistening guitars, insistent drums, anthemic synth washes. The papers said : "(A) lovely, unsettling record whose stealthy, witching-hour atmospherics are ultimately utterly overwhelming" - **** Uncut "Their music here is English through and through, a blend of barbed, revealing lyricism redolent of Morrissey's sadder musings and calm, considered arrangements drawing on the quieter end of British indie rock." - *** The Independent "(An) utterly spellbinding collection of bittersweet and savagely beautiful songs" - Comes With A Smile "Inhabiting a parallel universe where This Mortal Coil and The Durutti Column set the agenda." **** -Mojo A new record, "Saint Marie EP" followed in June 2004 and featured collaborations with lost 60's folk heroine, Vashti Bunyan, Alan Sparhawk from Low and Ben Ayres from Cornershop. A cast who only serve the notion further that Piano Magic are now, more than ever, a band of some celestial importance. Piano Magic's new album, 'Disaffected,' revisits the depth and dynamics of 'The Troubled Sleep Of' whilst at the same time stretching fingers into an even more melodic, practically "pop" sound. Recorded between October 2004 and January 2005 at the group's regular studio, The Fortress, in London and their own Murder Mile home-studio, it features guest vocal contributions from John Grant of The Czars and Angèle David-Guillou of Klima. To date, Piano Magic has harboured over 60 sonic orphans with nothing better to do, recorded 6 'proper' albums, a double CD retrospective and many, many singles. They've outlived several of the labels they've recorded for and show no signs of stopping. At this point in time (February 2005), Piano Magic is Glen Johnson, Franck Alba, Jerome Tcherneyan, Alasdair Steer and Cedric Pin. Angèle David-Guillou continues to guest on many Piano Magic recordings.
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