Ian Hawgood '光 / 彼方' [3CD]

Limited edition triple glass-mastered CD in a six-panel matte heavy-stock card package, printed locally in the UK. This version includes bonus CDr '光 (Reel Piano)' featuring an early mix of the album with alternate takes, directly transferred from the reels with no edits.

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'光' was originally released on CDr through Eilean Rec in June 2018. Reissued on vinyl on Home Normal in January 2019 with bonus downloads of '彼方 (Part One)' and '彼方 (Part Two)'. These editions sold out long ago, and I had in mind to remaster them on new tapes and bring them together as a whole album. '彼方' contained alternate tracks from those sessions before homing in on a less washed-out sound (as found on '彼方') and dialling the tape noise in more, rounding out the piano as well for the final mix that became '光'.

This comes in two editions: one as a triple CD as '光 / 彼方', and a bonus edition with '光 (Reel Piano)' on CDr as well. '光 (Reel Piano)' is a re-spooled and transferred reel mix from my original '光' sessions. I previously released an adjusted mix of this as '光 (pre-version)', but this has been respliced and mixed for more flow from the original tapes themselves, despite their travels and decay from storage. I think this simply adds to the sheer warmth of this mix, frankly.

This album means a huge amount to me for so many reasons. Mathias from Eilean Rec kindly invited me to record an album for the label back in their early days. Consumed with work and the label, I had recently moved to Poland and wasn't really feeling much like making music at the time. Eventually, I decided to ship my childhood piano over from Wales, where it was being looked after by my good friend Ian Hazeldine (antonymes). He'd kindly taken care of it after my father had suddenly passed away in 2011, as I was living in Japan at the time, and my mother had planned to give it away.

Being reconnected with this piano was an emotional and traumatising experience all rolled into one. I had hearing difficulties and ear infections as a child, which meant a lot of time in the hospital. Coming from a musical family and being forced to play the piano from a very young age, despite having hearing aids, was challenging for my family and me. Ultimately, I came to music on my own terms as a teenager, but these early experiences left me with trauma enough to have extreme reactions to music, for both good and bad. Through counselling, I've had the good fortune to recognise the triggers of music in my adult life, and the music I have made using this very piano only brings me joy now.

I'd like to take this opportunity to send a very special thank you to 'j s p h' as credited on the previous editions. This would be James, Stijn, Pieter, and Heine. We spent time performing at Festival Spectaculare in Prague before this album was created, and it was from our time together, their amazing support and encouragement, that I decided to record my piano onto reels at a time when I felt disconnected from music creation. It really does take kindness, support and love, common themes of my music, as well as needs in my own life.

I'm delighted to not only be presenting this remastering of both '光' and '彼方 (Parts One and Two)' on CD, alongside the bonus (or separately ordered) '光 (Reel Piano)', but also my first ever release (given to friends back in 2003), 'Piano Works'.

You can listen to and order 'Piano Works' here:

homenormal.bandcamp.com/album/piano-works

And '光 (Reel Piano)' here (if you don't want to get the bonus edition):

homenormal.bandcamp.com/album/reel-piano

I recently gave the piano to my nephew for his own unique memories as I felt it was time to move on from it after all these many years. These albums that marked the beginning of a healthy relationship with music creation and spending time with family (as heard in 'Piano Works'), alongside enjoying myself with old tape loops, splicing and analog sound manipulation and regaining a sense of self in my music (with '光'), come full circle and I'm so happy to share these with you now.

All profits from this album and my other releases this year will go towards funding surgery and care for our rescue dog, who sadly suffered a stage 5 IVDD spinal injury on Valentine's Day. Rescued earlier this year, clearly traumatised and underweight, we've promised to give him a good home despite probably needing wheels to get around once he gets through this.

Thank you so much. I hope this brings a little light and lightness into your days.

x Ian

Original Home Normal Press Release:

'光' translates as 'light', with the Japanese meaning being deeply significant in so many aspects of how it can be used. The concept of light is inherently important in all my work as you may have noticed, with each album almost a constant reference to it. The idea of low light moments and their connection to memory, innocence and the joy of life holds huge sway for me.

I hadn't released music for a long time when Mathias gently nudged me to make an album for his excellent Eilean imprint. Collaborators and friends will note how I will obsessively work on music for years and then throw the reels away or delete the files in a moment of frustration or exhaustion with what I feel is a lack of creativity at times.

Yet Mathias kept quietly asking, and this tied in with a Home Normal event at Festival Spectaculare in Prague, kindly organised by the great Josef Sedlon. I used the preparation for the event to test my reel looping and ability to use older machines for the show itself. To practice, I would test at night on my childhood piano in my Warsaw studio, and these loops became '光' as I spliced and built on each old tape that came out from the recordings.

The drone elements were created by simply pitching parts down and taking off the attack - done on reels, this takes a lot of time and some serious splicing. It took me about 5 months of almost solidly working on these and making these edits each night, but the results for me were so satisfying, and in every way, this is a work I am immensely proud of.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did making it.

'彼方' is an album of outtakes from my 2018 release '光'.

I had the working title of 'Beyond' whilst recording the initial sketches but came to tie the album together with a common theme of my work, namely that of 'light'. This always seemed the most fitting as it followed on from my last solo album 'The Shattered Light' as a personal and musical experience.

After finding myself caught between making a fairly direct piano album or a pure ambient album at the time, I instead chose to focus on the noise of my dustier and more broken reels in the final album itself, as it made more sense thematically but also it just felt like the most natural way to record the pieces at the time.

Whilst I typically reuse reels and tapes once I have transferred and completed the work, for some reason I found myself listening to the multitude of recordings that had built the project and came to the conclusion that the various developmental stages in the recording of the album itself had a life of their own, separate from the eventual release.

'彼方' translates as 'distant place / land' as well as 'beyond' really, and I always felt the more ambient work here had an ethereal type of quality compared to the final cut's more earthy nature.

Part One is a mix of the recordings I took before editing the final reels on one of my noisy Revox's and whilst these were the pieces that didn't make it to the final release, I feel they come together in their own way to make something of a very different nature, despite being of the same instrument and process source.

Part Two was when I was originally working on a pure ambient album, increasing the use of the piano tail (decay) as I edited the reel loops. Although it was noted upon release that the original album was a mix of piano and synths in some quarters, it actually wasn't at all. All of the work involved piano being recorded onto a wall of various reel-to-reels and editing from them without any other instruments added. Part Two is literally just cutting out the piano attack and taking my merry old time splicing tape, running through the machines over and over again, and coming out with a very large sounding ambient work which I really am very proud of in its own right.

I really hope you enjoy the whole body of work that was produced from this time and thank you so much for your kind support.

Sincerely,

Ian

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Original Eilean Recs Press Release:

‘光’ is my first proper solo album in over 6 years. Following on from ‘The Shattered Light’, ‘光’ came about after bringing my childhood piano over from the UK to Warsaw, Poland last year, and recording directly onto reams of reels through my various reel-to-reels.

I ended up with hours of recordings leftover, randomly choosing some of my favourite short pieces to include on ‘光’. The album came out in limited edition on Eilean Records in June alongside the digital. The vinyl edition was designed by Rutger Zuydervelt and includes a bonus 90 minute exclusive download of collated pieces that didn’t make it to the album.

Huge love and thanks to Mathias at Eilean for pushing me to complete something after all these years, as without this I’d still just be surrounded by piles of recordings collecting dust.

Thank you.

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PRESS

'The first thing you’ll notice is the deliberate lo-fi sound quality of the recordings, which is perhaps not what you’d expect from a seasoned sound engineer. The music is performed on his childhood piano, using old disused reel to reel recorders and an array of vintage synths.
The result is that these pieces are very intimate: it’s as if this album was specifically recorded personally for you.' Ambient Blog

'The music seems to be coming out of a coma, out of a struggle, re-emerging from a bleak hibernation as the sun lights up its face. It’s alone with its thoughts, but it’s never isolated. As introverts need the escape route of alone-time in order to recharge and recuperate, the music does, too, keeping its head up with nine positive affirmations in a world too cruel for a good heart. Recorded using his childhood piano and absconding from the use of any computers or effects (save for reel delays), the result is freedom in music. Its absence is refreshing. Standing alone, the music dares to hope, never wanting to land. Hawgood’s music burns into the heart, stretching out like a delay-drenched, endless summer.' James Catchpole (Fluid Radio)

'Drony, jeśli już się pojawiają, zaledwie muskają fakturę. Całość opisu „光”można by zamknąć w opisie „fortepian na tle ambientu”. Z tym tylko, że tu nie chodzi o żadną wywrotowość, ale umiejętność stawiania akcentów czy budowania aury.' Jarek Szczęsny (Nowa Muzyka)

'Memory is bittersweet: it retains the tangible preciousness of a moment, the sweetness of an instant, and yet keeps it from physical reach, the mind distanced from the true fullness of feeling. It lives on though, and whilst we might never quite reach its exactness again, we can relish in the knowledge of its occurrence and be sustained by its afterglow.' Hear Feel

'The sound quality reflects the built up emotions touched upon in the title. The drones hold onto a haunting melody similar in nature to the piano.' Drifting, Almost Falling

'センチメンタルなメロディをそっと奏でる優しいピアノ〜儚いおぼろげなピアノと、その残響音の微かなドローンが緩やかに広がる、デリケートで美しいソロ・ピアノ〜ピアノ・アンビエント・サウンド。前作『Love Retained』と同じく、ピアノをオープン・リールのテープ・レコーダーで録音して、テープの素材を後から編集して作られた同じ流れを汲む作風の作品ですが、『Love Retained』の時よりも形のはっきりとしたピアノのフレーズのサウンドの比重を増やして、静かなアンビエント感もあり、そしてより優美でクラシカルな趣もあるピアノ作品に仕上げています。' Linus Records

'Mais si Every Ending Is A Little Sadder Now You’re Gone, dixit le morceau le plus angoissé de l’album aux cascades de piano lo-fi et embrumées, c’est finalement la ferveur qui domine et l’idée, relayée par ces drones vaporeux, que rien ne s’éteint jamais vraiment, surtout pas notre foi en la vie. Modeste et touchant, comme son auteur, 光 est de ces disques qui vous guérissent l’esprit en toute humilité.' Indie Rock Mag

'Rien de plus mais c'est déjà amplement suffisant dans cet art du less is more pour réinventer un monde emplie de beauté. L'anglais a aujourd'hui posé ses valises à Varsovie en Pologne et on peut sûrement entendre ce sublime 光 comme une lettre d'adieu à l'archipel nippon. L'album continue en tout cas d'inscrire, à ceux qui pourraient encore en douter, Ian Hawgood parmi les grands de l'ambient. Il est à écouter en intégralité à cette adresse.' dMute

'Le note dello strumento si librano delicate espandendosi come frammenti di morbida luce proiettati verso un orizzonte distante nel quale diluirsi divenendo indelebile traccia emozionale. Tutto scorre nostalgicamente lento lasciando propagarsi un portato sensoriale incline ad una inesauribile ricerca dello stupore...Una toccante raccolta di intime istantanee pervase da sincero calore.' So What Musica

'La música de Hawgood es silenciosa, minimalista y levita en la atmósfera con sutiles notas de piano y melodías que se despliegan lentamente dejando a la deriva nubes ambientales...Me atrevería a decir que “光” es unos de los discos fundamentales en el catálogo de Eilean Rec.' Loop

'Ian Hawgood lets these songs evolve with such natural grace and beauty. By letting every moment positively shine, he creates a realm that feels so vital, real, and raw. Little choices make a huge difference, whether it is the warm hiss that rests right on the periphery of the sound to the way that the rest of the world always seems to be about to come into view, there is a soothing, meditative spirit about it. Melody, rhythm, and otherworldly sweeps effortlessly come together. Taking a little bit of ambience into the mix Ian Hawgood lets the whole exploration of sound happen in a leisurely fashion...With “光” Ian Hawgood goes for a quiet sort of playfulness, a childlike sense of wonder that informs the entirety of the journey.' Beach Sloth

'Whether in need of respite from life’s jaded, sharp negatives; desiring to escape to one’s own childhood memories for a short time; or simply seeking a beautiful collection of “auditory minimalism” as Hawgood himself puts it: the music of ‘光’ will captivate, relax, and allow creativity and contemplation to flow freely within any listener.' Piano and Coffee

'Appunto come raggi di luce, impalpabili e sospesi, i brani di “光” rischiarano un’ambience raccolta e profondamente meditativa, donandovi placidi contenuti emotivi che dei riferimenti nipponici riecheggiano la grazia e l’equilibrio di arti – come quella di Hawgood – sintonizzate alla perfezione tra natura ed emozioni umane. In meno di mezz’ora, il lavoro descrive così un itinerario d’ascolto e al tempo stesso interiore, in grado di illuminare ogni solitudine, con leggerezza empatica e rilucente bellezza.' Music Won't Save You

'The playing is very sparse, a few notes, a chord, silence, and fits very much the current (well, seeing as how this is going on, not-so current) modern classical wave of piano players; think Nils Frahm or Max Richter. Yet Hawgood is calmer, more minimalist, quieter than some of his peers, as far as I know their work, and this album is of a great, vulnerable beauty. It took him six years to come up with this and it is a great album, but the sad thing is that it is quite short, at twenty-eight minutes. Each of the pieces seem to flow into each other, usually in the fading of a pieces and the residue left behind the sound effects, yet each piece has a title on the cover. Best enjoyed with some sparse lightning and a fine glass of red wine.' Vital Weekly

'Piano och gamla syntar, melankoliska vemodiga melodier utan att bli sentimentala. Motståndmusik mot vår förhatliga samtid. Vackert som fan.' Discreet Music

'Ian Hawgood’s latest solo work, 光 (2018, Home Normal / Eilean) is a thing of fragile beauty. His piano has exactly the right hazy texture, the compositions the right balance of melancholy and mystery.' Evening of Light 

Recorded in Mokotów, Warsaw, Poland in 2018. Originally released on CDr in June 2018 on Eilean Rec. Reissued on vinyl in January 2019 on Home Normal.

Written & produced by Ian Hawgood
Artwork by Lunakhods
© 2018, 2019, 2026 Home Normal. All rights reserved.

"thank you m for pushing, j s p h for pulling"

m - Mattias
j = James
s = Stijn
p = Pieter
h = Heine