Yiruma - Room With A View (2020) [Hi-Res]

South Korean pianist and composer Yiruma will release a new EP titled Room with a View on 22 May, preceded by a new single of the same name out today (24 April). These new piano compositions mark the beginning of a global partnership with Universal Music Group Korea, which will see Yiruma’s works being released by the world’s leading music company – where he first began his recording career almost 20 years ago.

Educated in the UK at the Purcell School of Music and King’s College, London (where he studied under Sir Harrison Birtwistle), Yiruma is best known for the simple, melodic and emotional style of writing found in globally popular pieces such as ‘Kiss The Rain’ and ‘River Flows In You’. A popular and well-known personality in Korea, Yiruma’s many musical and related activities include hosting radio shows and DJ-ing, collaborating with musicians from many different genres, and writing hit songs for some of K-Pop’s most successful bands. But it is for his solo piano works that Yiruma enjoys most global acclaim; his most popular pieces are performed by millions of amateur pianists the world over, and his own recordings have delivered over two billion streams.

Room with a View is a five-track EP featuring newly written pieces inspired by the season of Spring, and performed by Yiruma on solo piano. The music itself speaks of a personal, familiar and comfortable place, and the perspective of looking out from it through an imaginative window. The title track, ‘Room with a View’, weaves warm melodies that offer a feeling of being alone in a Spring morning sun-lit room. ‘Preludio al vento (Overture of the Wind)’ and ‘Sunset Bird’ are inspired by the sound of the wind seeping through the window and the sound of the birds outside. ‘Berrylands Rd.’ is the name of the road in Surbiton, south London, past which Yiruma would walk every day on his journey to music college. Finally, ‘Yellow Room’ recalls the mood of a similar piece by the same name from an earlier Yiruma – a piece setting out the composer’s childhood memories of a familiar room decorated purely in yellow.

Yiruma says: “Compared to my early works that speak of images and sentiments that come from relationships between people, I think recently I am writing more from a personal point of view. Now, I hope to share the feelings coming from time spent alone: the comfortable feeling that familiar spaces give, the laziness from being completely alone, the loneliness and reminiscence in the late night.”

“At a time when many have to stay at home, and sometimes find it tedious in the places in which you live every day, please try focusing on the memories kept inside the space, and the small sounds that surround you. I hope my music becomes the music to your familiar things, the very small things that comfort you.”

Commenting on the new partnership with Universal Music Group, BJ Yang, CEO of UMG Korea, says: “It’s a pleasure to have Yiruma back in the Universal Music family, especially as we will soon be celebrating his 20th anniversary as a beloved composer and artist with many music fans around the world. I believe this moment will be an opening to a new and exciting chapter of Yiruma’s career, reaching out to music fans to share his creativity, and we happy to be a part of this journey.”

Yiruma concludes: “It feels great to work with Universal Music, supporting and believing in my music as it is. I cannot express enough how much I look forward to the collaboration ahead.”