- LP
John Carroll Kirby
TUSCANY
Patience
- Cat No: PTNC 003
- 2023-06-08
リプレス！〈STONES THROW〉と契約を結ぶロサンゼルスのピアニスト/作曲家JOHN CARROLL KIRBYが、自身のイタリア探訪の体験からインスピレーションを受けた作品を発表！片面一曲づつ収録された即興ピアノソロ。両面ともに18分という長尺を使い、トスカーナの美しい自然、相対する曇った歴史を繊細に描き出した大作。
Los Angeles based pianist, producer, and songwriter John Carroll Kirby traveled to Pietrasanta, Italy in the summer of 2018 on a self-imposed writing trip. During his stay he composed Tuscany, a two side-long solo piano exploration of this particular geographical envelope, a place where nature is shaped into form.
Kirby would cycle 12 kilometers each day to Cascata di Malbacco, a waterfall with jade pools and silver stone, and the inspiration for Side A of Tuscany. His own Cascata di Malbacco tumbles and shimmers along the piano as a gorgeous eighteen-minute-long improvised piece, some of it polished and some moments left raw.
On a ride to Sant’Anna, twenty-something kilometers away, Kirby took a wrong turn and got lost among the hills, where he encountered several monuments memorializing the victims of the Sant’Anna di Stazzema massacre. The dark history of an abandoned mill house served as the inspiration for the album’s haunting Side B, a eulogy for all of those forgotten by time.
Although Side A is inspired by the natural beauty of a waterfall, and Side B by the cruelty that people can inflict upon others, both pieces revolve around the same seven-note bassline. The idea Kirby is iterating on is the realization that darkness exists inside light, and vice versa; Tuscany is an inquiry into this duality and its consequences.
John Carroll Kirby has recently released records on Leaving Records, Outside Insight and Pinchy & Friends. In the studio and on the road, he’s produced and/or played with Connan Mockasin, Blood Orange, Sebastian Tellier, Shabazz Palaces and Solange.
He recently signed to Stones Throw Records.
Patience is a new outlet for exploring further beyond the break than usual. Inspired by the music perpetually on rotation at HQ – with E2-E4 representing the format’s high tide mark – each release will be one artist’s deep dive down one inspirational wormhole spread across two sides of vinyl, or two side-long sojourns making full use of a round 12” piece of plastic. Set and forget, zone out to tune in.
Kirby would cycle 12 kilometers each day to Cascata di Malbacco, a waterfall with jade pools and silver stone, and the inspiration for Side A of Tuscany. His own Cascata di Malbacco tumbles and shimmers along the piano as a gorgeous eighteen-minute-long improvised piece, some of it polished and some moments left raw.
On a ride to Sant’Anna, twenty-something kilometers away, Kirby took a wrong turn and got lost among the hills, where he encountered several monuments memorializing the victims of the Sant’Anna di Stazzema massacre. The dark history of an abandoned mill house served as the inspiration for the album’s haunting Side B, a eulogy for all of those forgotten by time.
Although Side A is inspired by the natural beauty of a waterfall, and Side B by the cruelty that people can inflict upon others, both pieces revolve around the same seven-note bassline. The idea Kirby is iterating on is the realization that darkness exists inside light, and vice versa; Tuscany is an inquiry into this duality and its consequences.
John Carroll Kirby has recently released records on Leaving Records, Outside Insight and Pinchy & Friends. In the studio and on the road, he’s produced and/or played with Connan Mockasin, Blood Orange, Sebastian Tellier, Shabazz Palaces and Solange.
He recently signed to Stones Throw Records.
Patience is a new outlet for exploring further beyond the break than usual. Inspired by the music perpetually on rotation at HQ – with E2-E4 representing the format’s high tide mark – each release will be one artist’s deep dive down one inspirational wormhole spread across two sides of vinyl, or two side-long sojourns making full use of a round 12” piece of plastic. Set and forget, zone out to tune in.
CONNAN MOCKASIN, BLOOD ORANGE, SEBASTIAN TELLIER, SHABAZZ PALACES,SOLANGEら名だたるアーティストのプロデュース・作品参加に加え、名門〈LEAVING RECORDS〉からアルバムもリリースしているJOHN CARROLL KIRBY。マルバコの滝の美しさを表現した「Cascata di Malbacco」(sample1)。第二次世界大戦におけるサンタンナ・ディ・スタッツェーマ村の大虐殺、その記念碑を目撃し表現した「Sant'Anna」(sample2)。ピアノソロという統一したフォーマットで、明と暗、どちらの側面も見つめ、その関係性を提示する一枚でもあります。 (Akie)