Album Review: Jeremiah Fraites - 'Piano Piano'
Jeremiah Fraites (Co-Founder of The Lumineers) releases his debut instrumental solo album Piano Piano.
Through eleven piano led instrumental tracks Fraites gently leads us through emotional ebbs and flows from start to finish with his stunning new album Piano Piano. Without a single world a story can be told making us feel emotions from sorrow to elation and back to sorrow again. Fraites says “I love the idea of communicating with people through music alone, which can sometimes say more than words ever could.”
Since being a co-founder and drummer for The Lumineers for the past decade, Fraites has been saving up a collection of song ideas that didn’t feel quite right for the band to one day release himself, with some ideas written on the road or from his hometown of Denver. His wistful writing style still captures the essence of folk melody which has made appearances onto The Lumineers albums with songs such as ‘April’ and ‘Patience’. He has also received writing credits creating pieces for films such as The Hunger Games.
Jeremiah recorded most of the instrumentation himself with the help of a few friends including The Lumineers’ violinist Lauren Jacobson. The Album was co-produced and engineered by David Baron who has worked with the likes of Jade Bird and Vance Joy.
With lead singles Chilly and Tokyo, we were given a glimpse of what to expect from the album. Tokyo is emersed in a world of strings and ambience and is one of the oldest songs on the record. Track 4 titled ‘Maggie’ in honour of his wife’s dog is the first track on the album to feature drums (also performed by Fraites) which were only added at the last minute of the recording process. Jeremiah discusses how working on the music it is about finding the balance between ‘overthinking and not thinking it at all’ when in the creation process. The addition of the drums to this track made it what it is. When discussing Maggie he says “Not only could I no longer imagine the song without drums, but no longer imagine the album without this song.”
From start to finish Piano Piano is ethereal, a strikingly elegant masterpiece that will make the perfect addition to any record collection.
Words by Tamara Grzegorzek