Julian Zyklus Captures an Underwater Piano Experience in his Latest EP Release

Following his debut album from 2019, Waterpiano is a contemporary take on classical legends

Musician and sound designer Julian Zyklus has released his next solo EP, ‘Waterpiano,’ following his debut album ‘Four Dimensional Waves’ from 2019. Based in Italy, his music reimagines classical traditions, and his unique sound has been in the making since he began playing piano as a child. Merging classical and electronic components, Zyklus has a passion for digital synthesis and the potential to create cinematic sound.

Zyklus is a member of the Italian alternative band A Toys Orchestra and has composed three albums with the group. He has also worked with Italian singer Nada to arrange songs for piano, and he was featured in many of her high-profile performances. In 2019, he worked with the Seattle-based label Hush Hush Records to release his debut album, exploring conceptual sonic effects. The album was based on the idea of a universe born out of a white hole and displayed a wildly unique celestial soundscape full of innovative synthesizer applications.

His latest album, ‘Waterpiano,’ is named after the German word ‘Wasserklavier,’ which is the title of a seminal piece by pioneering Italian composer Luciano Berio. Inspired by the music of Chopin, Bach, Debussy, and Satie, he used their whimsical sound to develop his compositions for this album. Filtering his piano recordings through digital delays, he managed to create a sound as if the instruments were underwater, representing his interpretation of ‘Wasserklavier.’ Through four distinct yet fluidly dynamic tracks, the album shows Zyklus developing a uniquely experiential take on the music’s legacy and beauty. 

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‘Sun Rain’, fresh beats on a new path

Creating music within the Canadian electronic scene, Chad Skinner has been half of the talent behind ‘Snow Day’ (a duo we covered way back in 2015), and worked out two neatly produced albums while the group was active. Independently, Skinner works under the name of ‘Legs Florentine’ when performing DJ sets across Ontario. The sound resulting from these sets has a little more drive and pulse, but Skinner’s work is more identifiable by the pensive glow that emanates from many of tracks, freedom of exploration in his music encouraging freedom of thought for the listener.

In move that embraces and cultivates that contemplative element, Skinner has launched a new solo project ‘Sun Rain’, with an eight track debut album. This collection of organic beats and electroacoustic sound has been released with the support of Hush Hush Records, the Seattle based label known for their preference of introspective sound that soundtracks moments of calm.

The track showcased today works from another Toronto based artist with a talent for capturing thoughts in soft focus: Alaskan Tapes. In his remix of ‘Views from Sixteen Stories’, Sun Rain avoids treading old ground and picks his samples with care, beautifully genuine percussion serving as the keystone to his own unique creation.

Grab the track on Bandcamp or stream it on Spotify

Sun Rain
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Alaskan Tapes
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Elegant and consuming: Julian Zyklus’s track ‘White Hole’

Provided to YouTube by Cargo White hole · Julian Zyklus Four Dimensional Waves ℗ Hush Hush Records Released on: 2019-06-21 Artist: Julian Zyklus Auto-generated by YouTube.

Italian artist Julian Zyklus delivered his solo debut album ‘Four Dimensional Waves’ back in June this year, joining the Hush Hush Records Group. Zyklus draws on extensive experience of piano and synthesizers, as well as alternative rock, having used the former skills as a member of rock band ‘A Toys Orchestra’. Four Dimensional Waves displays vibrant creativity which often conjures a slightly unearthly beauty, and is headed by the track ‘White Hole’.

The influence of classical music seems apparent throughout his work, and it’s by means of largely unaltered samples of piano that we’re drawn into the track in question. The line between classical and modern techniques starts to blur however, as the lo-fi electronic edge that helps the conventional piano establish a pacifying atmosphere starts to take over the track. The staccato plucks of high pitched electronic that pick up around the 1:40 mark signify the shift to more powerful use of synthesizer, while maintaining a perfectly cultivated sense of delicacy.

As the song develops, samples begin to stretch, echoes are introduced, and the physical feeling of the track becomes more abstract and dreamlike. Shadows lengthen as the creative aspects of Zkylus’s skillset begin to gradually dominate the foreground.

Grab the whole album over here

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