Who left their piano outside?

July 23, 2023 11:02 AM

A while back I read about (I thought it was on MetaFilter but I can't find it) a piano album where the gimmick was that it had been recorded on a piano that had been left outside for a year in a field. Memory and searches are failing me. Help!
posted by ropeladder to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

That feels really familiar. Was it Neko Case?
posted by Horkus at 11:50 AM on July 23, 2023

Response by poster: I'm not seeing any albums by her that would fit the bill.

I have a vague association with it being a man from Northern Europe/Scandinavia but I can't find anything by the obvious suspects (Olafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm, Hauschka). Bing Chat told me it was the track "The Field" by Hauschka and... cited this question.
posted by ropeladder at 2:07 PM on July 23, 2023 [1 favorite]

I remembered seeing this project by a Brown University PhD candidate, and in the description it says it was "inspired by the work of Ross Bolleter, an Australian composer and pianist, who finds, creates, and performs on what he calls ruined pianos." Could that be who you're looking for?
posted by beyond_pink at 3:57 PM on July 23, 2023

I remember the Neko Case thing.
posted by vunder at 10:16 PM on July 23, 2023

It's probably not this, but the story is similar to Music for a Found Harmonium by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.
posted by snarfois at 6:06 AM on July 24, 2023

This reminds me of some of the piano works by Binaural Space, e.g. Chopped Piano Day.
posted by knile at 4:06 PM on July 25, 2023