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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Julian Zyklus brings elegance and power with 'Waking Lights'

Provided to YouTube by Cargo Waking Lights · Julian Zyklus Waking Lights ℗ Hush Hush Records Released on: 2020-07-03 Artist: Julian Zyklus Auto-generated by ...

When Julian Zyklus released his first solo album back in June, he already had prior involvement in alternative rock as well as experience with piano and synthesizer. He showcased more than these talents however, managing to create a harmonic balance between the more traditional sound of classical and the much less organic tones of synthesizer-led downtempo and electronica.

‘Four Dimensional Waves’ was a collection which succeeded in shying away from the more conventionally subdued sound of minimal electronic, while also establishing an intense, cinematic core. His newest release remains in that space between emotive classical and synthetic elegance, and precedes his upcoming album ‘Parallel Worlds’.

Pre-release track ‘Waking Lights’ brings forward digital melodies which exist in separation from the echoing samples of piano placed in the stereo field. This division leaves a feeling of physical distance, as if the melody is surrounded by an oceanic darkness. The sense of restrained power is heightened as distortion and synthesizer grow to a crescendo.

‘Parallel Worlds’ itself is a split album, shared between Zyklus and Hoshiko Yamane. Yamane is a Berlin based violinist and current member of ‘Tangerine Dream’, a group legendary for their work in pioneering early electronica. With such a strong partnership, Parallel Worlds promises to be a high quality release.

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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.

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