Gatineau, Quebec-based composer Nick Schofield‘s alluring 2021 offering, Glass Gallery, was composed entirely on a vintage Prophet-600 synthesizer and inspired by the light and space of Ottawa’s National Gallery. On his new album, Ambient Ensemble (February 9th, 2024, via Backward Music – BKWRD034), he invites gregarious group play, using tape-slowed piano improvisations layered with synthesizers and then a small chamber ensemble.
He cites the late California-based new-age composer Joanna Brouk, who studied under Robert Ashley and Terry Riley, as an influence. Her sparse and meditative pieces were noted for their healing qualities (listen to her double-disc anthology ‘Hearing Music’). While her music focused on piano or flute, there was a detail within her music that reflected natural rhythms. Similarly, with ‘On Air’, Schofield’s first single, while the piano is centre-focused, he builds a tranquil and often playful narrative around this. The single is accompanied by a video by Christopher Honeywell that accentuates the evocative ‘feel’ of the music.
Nick Schofield:
When making On Air, I imagined the music accompanying a painter in her studio, the windows open and the song flowing in and swirling around the artwork. The song went through many drafts with different melodies layered atop the piano. Over time I realized the potency of the piece is for the piano to be the emotional guide instead of the melodies giving it a direct narrative. I prefer the feelings that arise from the music to form the ‘story of the song.’
Ambient Ensemble
- Meadow
- On Air
- Hazen
- Fine Tune
- Joy Cry
- Bouquet
- Morning Doves
- Resonant World
- Heartfelt
- Picture Perfect
- Undertone
- Key Bed