Sergi Sirvent - Kai (2022)

This is a sincere and eclectic artistic proposal where this creator goes deep into himself and navigates through the language of jazz, contemporary music, chamber/choral music, free jazz or more avant-garde music.

Sergi Sirvent offers us his art with a mixture of original compositions of a very diverse contemporary caliber as well as some standard and some other surprises such as some minor percussions or some sung theme.

With an impressive range of diverse projects where he has also explored different musical formations, timbres and aesthetic lines, Sirvent has published three solo piano albums: El Pes de les Balances (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2009 / double album with written music and improvised music ) and Ànims i Ánimes (Selfish Records, 2016).

In 2016 he also published with his digital label Selfish Records an improvisation of almost 30 minutes, recorded in 2004 under the title Ambits.

The third album released in 2021 in the middle of the pandemic "Bàlsam" marks a change of direction in Sirvent's pianistic career; it has an intimate and expressive tone, more mature, open to a wide and contemplative listening, to be able to enjoy the sound from a full consciousness.

And continuing and deepening even more in this new line opened by Balsam, Sergi Sirvent publishes at the beginning of November 2022 his fourth solo piano album under the title of KAI.

In this album, Sirvent offers us sound miniatures, small pieces of musical jewelry with a rather classical form where improvisation does not play as significant a role as the interpretation of the compositions, what is transmitted by playing them. In many of the compositions a clear choral idea about harmony appears, that is to say, they are works where we can hear several voices at the same time, usually 4 voices. This perception gives the pianist a "directive" point of view on what he is performing, thus splitting between performer, listener and conductor.

They are sound photographs in which the artist reflects pianistically on time, life, beauty, pleasure, the meaning of the path, being, giving and/or giving oneself as well as other deep and intimate concepts - typical of Japanese culture - such as "hikari" (light) or "kai" (ocean).

And the fact that this is an album refers to a gestational loss, of a son who was to be called - and is called - Kai.

This fact has marked a before and after in Sirvent's personal life and has made him mature and open up in many aspects; for this reason this fourth solo piano disc is called that, to remember him, to remember what he taught us and also to expose this situation that happens much more often than we think in our society but which is often forbidden as a taboo . Gestational losses are a reality that must be made visible; it is necessary to be able to talk about death with the same nature as we can talk about life, since one cannot exist without the other.

"Hikari" is also a very emotional and special theme that Sirvent wrote dedicated to his wife, Yasmin with whom he shares this affinity for the Eastern world and with whom Sirvent was able to rediscover himself spiritually.

To finish rounding off the disc, there are also on this disc, some songs of a more "jazzy/contemporary" caliber, with improvisations more typical of the style, such as "Echoes" (with timbres closer to Bill Evans) or "Motions" (composition for 4 voices that are defined by a series of opposite and parallel movements, also dedicated to Paul Motian).