It was Piano Day this March 29, 2021. 

So here's a little something. 

Years ago, a piano had been abandoned under the snow on the street in the Mile End in Montreal, QC under the Van Horne Bridge, nearby Arcade Street (I've always wondered if Arcade Fire was named after this?). 

Strange vision of an old upright piano lying there, abandoned. I saw it every day on my way to work for a week or so. One day, it had been sawed off. Someone probably extracted the metal frame, leaving only the crippled keyboard in place. 

I got the amputated keyboard back home. Only the keys and part of the mechanics are left. The keyboard has been in my living room for a couple of years. There is something fascinating about a mute instrument. 

Then came the opportunity for this piano to be "played" again. I placed the keyboard in the center of the room, turned around to scratch, caress, rub with my hands, with wood, cardboard, multiple wooden dice to give life to this little Frankenstein, while taping everything. 

I imported the recorded pieces in a Reaper, and completed it with some piano samples, home made single notes, etc. There might be an extract of a Debussy lying around.

I first made a 100% concrete "raw" editing in the DAW, to sketch the architecture and the dynamics of the piece, by stretching and manipulating the waveforms manually (my great passion). Then I applying extra effects (mainly GRM Tools, especially Space Grain, and EQ, reverbs, delays, distortion, bit decimator to "burn" the horns and morph them into a synthesizer that slows down as it becomes more and more rhythmic. I added here and there a little touch of synth, reversed bells, single string notes. I made a quick video to post it here (with Da Vinci Resolve). 

And here it is. 

All credits: Loïc Suty