Theo Alexander 'ANIMADVERSIONS' Out Now on Arts & Crafts

Today, following singles "Disappearing Altogether" (which returned with a remix from Visible Cloaks), "Matter of Balance" and "Declining Patterns", Theo Alexander at last releases Animadversions: a collection which pulls highlights from his back catalogue and reimagines them as a single, concise LP.

Animadversions employs Alexander's tape manipulations to great effect, with the accompanying piano sounding like it degrades itself as we listen, marking the melancholic passage of time. It's a testament to Alexander's musical talent, as well as to the subtle mixing work of Joel Ford (Oneohtrix Point Never, Jacques Greene, How To Dress Well) that these songs from disparate eras come together into a cohesive whole. Alexander previously shared "Disappearing Altogether" from the new LP.

"This album was conceived as a response to my earlier piano music and my dissatisfaction with how it sounded" Theo says. "I knew that there were things in there I wanted to keep, but that they couldn't be salvaged without radical rewriting. These pieces are both a rejection and a reworking of my older music, and they have a bright, hard sound because this dialogue is often painful," he adds.

This unique approach has roots in his past: growing up in North London, Theo Alexander jumped from cello to guitar, and finally piano. Alexander later abandoned his piano lessons, choosing to teach himself and apply his training to the various noise and doom metal bands he played in through his early 20s. Though he'd go on to study music at university and gain a master's degree in critical theory, he gravitated toward the experimental side of classical music, led by living legend minimalists like Philip Glass. "It took time to realise that classical music could be a much less academic affair," Alexander says. "And I began to push myself a bit more towards merging my various approaches from the past"

It is not possible for music to be literally blurry, but Alexander's songs are the closest approximation. The Chinese-British London native has a composition style grounded in neoclassical piano, but interwoven with cassette four-track tape loops and manipulations to create a dreamlike state that sounds as if the music is being remembered in real time, not so much eroding as shifting, becoming amorphous with every note played.

Listen to the new EP here:

Photo Credit: Annie Forrest

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