Carl Liungman’s intimate piano return is an effervescent and cinematic affair that tells haunting and beautiful stories using a pure minimalist palette.
The Huarod, Sweden-based Carl Liungman is a pianist and composer whose sound on his latest EP, titled Affection & Absence, is stripped back and sensual. An EP composed of 4 original, instrumental piano pieces, Affection & Absence is a quirky delight. Light, airy, and dreamy at parts, stormy and dark at others, Carl Liungman manages to effortlessly craft fully fleshed-out pieces of story-telling music using just his piano, expressive fingers, and weighted heart. Affection & Absence is a collection of sounds that tell of the difficulties in love, relationships, and in intimacy, Carl Liungman achieves this with an extremely limited set of tools. But limited does not equal limiting, which is why the 4 pieces on this album are equally soulful and colorful, each in its own way.
Ranging from light to dark, and from hope to desperation, the album starts at a place of poppy piano that’s cinematic and flamboyant, with the titular Affection, and continually descends until the jazzy depths and darkness of the closer, Disappear. Achieving this range is done effortlessly and smoothly; I barely noticed any shifts between the pieces, owing to the rich composition of the pieces. The final result is an album that’s warm and easy to enjoy, a set of sounds that can serenade, and a set of compositions that equally soothe and stir.
Carl Liungman’s latest EP is a practice in minimalist and impressionist art. Carl’s limited palette and toolset never seem to stand in his way of composing and delivering fresh, soulful, and haunting piano music. Affection & Absence is delicate and delightful.