Loophole is the new solo EP from Berlin-based pianist and composer Roman Rofalski. His music strives to remove the artificial boundaries that have been established between classical, improvised jazz and contemporary sound experiments. With his jazz-trio he has released three albums so far featuring both original compositions and arrangements of classical works, especially those of the early 20th century. His solo piano debut The Kapustin Project (Sony Classical) puts a spotlight on the Ukrainian Composer and his classical music written in a jazz idiom, merging it with contemporaries like Frederic Rzewski, Bernhard Lang as well as Roman’s own compositions.

Loophole sees Rofalski embrace his love for Detroit techno, placing it in a pianistic setting. In early 2018, triggered by being asked to work with the Stockhausen Foundation, Roman was forced to go back to playing Keyboard and indulging sound synthesis, taking his love for 90s underground techno to an environment of highly complex contemporary electronic composition. Instantly, the idea grew to incorporate generated sounds into his piano improvisation concept, to create a bridge between complex rhythms, soundscapes and a piano sound, augmenting the sonic possibilities of the instruments with contemporary processing and effects. He recorded acoustic piano at two sessions in summer 2019, collecting both compositions, improvisations and sound fragments. After an extensive process of editing and processing, a set of pieces was finished – Loophole.