PIANIST Erol Sarp and producer-cum-electronic engineer Lukas Vogel first began to collaborate under the warped familial relationship concept of Grandbrothers eight years ago, looking to investigate the possibilities open to them in the prepared piano; that is, a piano with various insertions, be it purely analogue (the insertion of objects between the strings – under the bonnet, so to speak) – or inserting things that in turn trigger other, patched responses.
They conceived of a self-built system of electromagnetic hammers as a kind of turbocharging, allowing them to use the piano as an exploratory, ersatz drum machine.
They’ve released two albums of modern composition with a subtle experimental edge in the past half-decade: 2015’s Dilation and 2017’s Open, which was also their first for City Slang.
Now they’re all set to unleash their third LP, All The Unknown, which City Slang will be bringing to us come January 15th – and released a stunning short film for the title track, which you can watch below.
The striking and at times surreal clip explores and maximises the dramatic builds and crescendos of the song; our unnamed protagonist launches himself out into the awe of a spare, volcanic landscape.
Erol and Lukas say of the video: “We worked closely with our good friends and filmmakers Manfred Borsch and Malte Thuilot, because they had us hooked with their ideas and vision for this project.
“We felt that they could perfectly put into pictures, what we only can express with music.“
Director Manfred added: “The brilliant and deeply touching work of Grandbrothers offers an unbelievable visual playground and creates pictures in the mind of each individual. We are enormously grateful that we were allowed to bring our own visual feelings to this project.”
Errol is the force bringing the dance grooves and breaks to the party; you can hear the evident techno influence on “All The Unknown”. Elsewhere on the album hiphop breaks make their mark.
“We wanted to leave the lovely, romantic piano music behind,” he says.
Grandbrothers’ All The Unknown will be released by City Slang on digital download, CD and 2xLP on January 15th; you can pre-order you copy right now, here.
Follow Grandbrothers at their website, on Facebook, on Instagram and on Twitter.
