pianos

Pianos are not cool. Boogie Woogie and Jazz are a little bit cool but they are hard.


Like most singer-songwriter types I use my instrument to write on and throw in some twiddly bits when I get chance and come up with something I can play and sing at the same time, so it's relatively rare that the piano parts are a showcase of fabulous musicianship, more usually they are a pad along with a lovely tune on top.

Maybe it's because you have to sit down - well, Ben Kweller has a good standing up technique with the microphone pointing straight up like an ice cream, but even then you can't go shimmying about the place.

Plus pianos are heavy. Literally, which is actually a bloody nuisance for those of shlepping around the gig  circuit but also sonically, there can be something doomy and thick sounding about pianos. (Until you're really, really good and can play fast and light but again, that's hard).

I avoided this problem with the 'Then I woke up and it was all a dream' album, by transferring all the piano parts to the harp, a lighter sound, though an even less convenient instrument to get down the twisty turny back stairs of The Punctured Monkey.

So although I write pretty much everything on the piano it is fairly rare for me to stick to the ivory tinkling come the final arrangement. As such its nice when a song comes along that is absolutely right for the piano. The title track of 'The Ventriloquist' works well and so does this little fella I think.

"Captain, I confess' is not as yet on any albums, but I'm aiming on fixing that in a rather exciting way soon....

Like a lot of things that are in our lives everyday, its nice to suddenly remember how much I do love the magical instant pleasure of the piano....