Erik Sigurd - Sun, mine (2022)

Erik Sigurd, pseudonym and hybrid of Eriksson Kaner andLeifKaner-Lidström, is a pianist whose compositions blend (or dissolve/outleap) the boundaries of rigid musical styles. As an artist whose other work is rooted in collaboration, the alter ego of Erik came when a colleague suggested he recorded the improvisation he was playing on the piano backstage before their performance. The idea of improvising a whole piano album, with all its imperfections from start to finish, grew into this new persona of Erik Sigurd. He intends to improvise a new album on an annual basis, seeing how the sound and vision develops, and eventually taking it to live, intimate venues.

"The concept behind the album 'Sun, mine' is simple: it is entirely improvised, from start to finish. Each piece was recorded live and meanders onto the next. I booked Baltic Studios for the day, because they have this beautiful Yamaha U1 upright piano which I knew I wanted to record on. Listening closely, you can tell that the music, with its natural imperfections, is improvised – but that's what I like about it. Listening to it in the knowledge that it was off the cuff lets the listener feel part of something that existed once, in the moment, and then didn't appear again. Each track started without me knowing how it would sound or how it would finish."