‘Open Up’ – a new album of original piano music

‘Open Up’ is the debut album from the Charlie Foxtrot Piano Collective, released on 16th July 2021. Written and produced by Caroline Wright, the album includes 11 tracks of original multi-tracked piano music.

The idea behind the album was to create a coherent set of compositions that indulge my love of piano but also explore the orchestral potential of the instrument. The creative process involved a mixture of composing, improvising, and arranging. I wanted to avoid using samples or MIDI, to maintain both an acoustic and improvisatory feel to the music, so everything was recorded on – or inside – a real grand piano. This meant numerous recording sessions for every track, as well as detailed mixing to achieve the right balance between different parts.

The album moves from relatively upbeat, simple tracks to darker, more complex pieces, with lots of modal harmonies and rhythmic ostinatos looped throughout. The music has a diverse range of influences, from classical to contemporary, as well as film, folk, jazz, dance and electronica. Some of the pieces are re-workings of older compositions (the oldest dating back to 1995!), while others were written in early 2021. There were many different inspirations for pieces: an amazing poem (The Hill We Climb), a beautiful photo (Falling Light), a wildlife documentary (Whale Song), some awful weather (Storm), a strong emotion (Anticipation), or a musical concept (Lockdown Boogie – which is really a study for the left-hand, in disguise!). The album title refers not only to opening up the piano to explore the sounds under the lid, but also to society opening up after the lockdowns of 2020-21, as well as personally opening up as an artist and deciding to put my music out into the world.

Open Up is available now

To listen to tracks in full or buy album (via Bandcamp): www.charliefoxtrotpianocollective.com

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