After 15 years of belting out hearty folk-rock refrains to increasingly large audiences,
Lumineers co-founder
Jeremiah Fraites makes a surprisingly subtle solo debut with
Piano Piano, a collection of tranquil piano instrumentals that occasionally veers into the avant-garde and quasi-classical wilderness. Like so many acts in 2020,
the Lumineers' touring plans were waylaid by the COVID-19 pandemic, and
Fraites -- recently transplanted to his wife's hometown of Turin, Italy -- found himself with time to contemplate his long-intended solo album. Sifting through years of musical fragments on phones and hard drives, a collection of melodies began to take shape, all of them played on the piano with little accompaniment. Deeply textured and bearing just the right mix of elegiac grandeur and quiet melancholia,
Piano Piano lives in a misty liminal space far from rousing chants of "Ho Hey," his band's breakout 2012 hit. Recorded at home amid the everyday sounds of construction, the family dog, and interruptions from his young son, the album's organic elements are a big part of its overall emotional picture. There's a dusty sweetness to songs like "Tokyo" and the lovely "Dreams," with lilting melodies colliding with dissonance and the occasional clunk of foot pedals and hammers on strings.
Fraites' one instrumental indulgence here is the inclusion of a string section, and while
Piano Piano would have been a gentle stunner without them, the arrangements are generally understated and more often than not lift the songs up with their ethereal heft.
Fraites knows how to tug the heartstrings with a wistful chordal shift, but he flirts with darkness too, painting a very human picture on this excellent debut. ~ Timothy Monger