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Hear Poppy Ackroyd’s Piano-Plumbing, Violin-Scouring Odyssey ‘Seven’

Poppy Ackroyd

When Poppy Ackroyd says she plays the piano, that doesn’t just mean she presses down on the keys. The London-based performer and composer mines for valuable noises from within the inside of the piano, as well. She also plays violin in much the same way. Aside from some field recordings, every sound on Ackroyd’s debut LP Escapement, which comes to these shores on January 15 via Denovali Records, originally came from one of those two instruments, one way or another. “Seven,” which actually happens to be the third track on the album, shows just how much Ackroyd can do with those basic ingredients. Clicking, whirring, and lots of other onomatapoeia-ing goes on as soft piano and somber violin trace an intricate emotional arc. “Escapement” is a physical part of the piano, and it’s a richly evocative title whose time has come with this record.

Escapement tracklist:
1. “Aliquot” 
2. “Rain” 
3. “Seven” 
4. “Glass Sea”
5. “Lyre” 
6. “Grounds” 
7. “Mechanism”