Grace Ferguson: Voler (LP, Music Company, February 2021)

This is one of those records where I started to feel myself falling for it about a minute into my first listen, and was head over heels by about minute five. There’s this rather lovely delicate piano sound, you see. But then there’s this helicopter. And there’s just about birdsong. Then the piano builds in intensity and complexity. It approaches an almost Melnykian density and suddenly I’m not sure if the helicopter is back underneath all those notes. And then there’s a breath of wind and everything is back to that gossamer floatiness. Then it builds again, but this time more soaringly emotional. Then quiet, and a heart-rending little melody that never quite resolves. And then we pause and we breathe.

The star here is the piano playing, which traverses the dynamic range and displays virtuosity, passion, and restraint in equal measures and does it all in a way that ends up greater than the sum of its parts. Add in the various field recordings and ambient effects and a couple of brief spoken word interludes, and you have something rather magical.

I bought this from Boomkat. They call it Modern Classical / Ambient.