In the spirit of Piano Day, Emil Friis & Patricio Fraile have returned to their debut LP The Expected Sounds Of Minor Music to record live piano-based versions of album tracks Morning and Prelude. Director Anders Hviid captured the Danish composers performing ‘Morning’ for a video to accompany the release.

“We sketched out ‘The Expected Sounds Of Minor Music’ the old way on piano, yet in the process the album ended up almost void of that instrument, instead relying on strings as the main focus. Piano Day is a wonderful occasion to return to the 88 keys... we decided to interpret a few of the album pieces and play them on the piano. There’s an immediate and clear response when sitting at the piano that's hard to get with other instruments that we wanted to try to capture in our performances. There are two main instruments in these recordings. A felted full scale Yamaha MC 301 playing the rhythmic chord figures and a small 5 octave Kawai playing the melody lines. We recorded those two pianos live in one room. To add a little color and depth we added a bass line and an extra voice on the Korg Delta on ‘Morning’ and a bass line on the Korg Delta and drone on a Roland RS-202 on ‘Prelude’” – Emil Friis.

Morning, originally written for an orchestral ensemble with an emphasis on long floating notes, has distilled the core feeling and essence of the original piece, playing it on two pianos with a distinct rhythmic approach, almost loop-like. The concept of space shines throughout. Prelude takes the inspired floating ambient field recordings and soundscapes of the original album piece, and translates that mood into a more tonal figurative piece.

Morning / Prelude (For Two Pianos) is released today as a limited two-track lathe-cut 7” clear vinyl and on digital platforms here.