Tiago Sousa - Ripples On The Surface (2022)

Releasing music since 2006, Tiago Sousa is one of most talented and heartfelt pianists of his generation. His compositions are soulful, generous, and mindful. He has released records on Immune, Discrepant and for years oversaw Merzbau, a visionary Portuguese label that inspired many in the mid-2000s. After years of flirting, we are very happy to announce Tiago's first release on Holuzam, “Ripples On The Surface”.
The opener “Sunflowers” sits close to Steve Reich – “Music For 18 Musicians” – and Manuel Göttsching if he had forgotten to press “house mode on” on “E2-E4”. It is new ground for Tiago. He has spent the last decade and a half building momentum for this, breaking from a classical/contemporary aesthetic to a composition layered with minimalist and mechanical ideas that manifest his talent at its peak.
“Ripples On The Surface” follows the first volume of “Organic Music Tapes” (Discrepant / Sucata Tapes), a series in which the musician will be trying different approaches to the piano, aiming for a more organic process of creating music. Not that his music needed more heart, but we find it admirable that he keeps pushing boundaries and attempts grandiosity with a piece like “Sunflowers”.
It is nothing short of mind-blowing, and much of what comes after seems to acknowledge that. The next three tracks – “Red Pine”, “Blossoms” and “The Time Binder”, with an “Interlude” in the middle – are more calm, relaxing, inviting you to come down from the peak reached with “Sunflowers”. This subtle descent into reality is a part of the same whole. For that reason also, "Ripples On The Surface” is Tiago Sousa's most accomplished record to date.