s o l o
Simon studied and worked as a classical pianist for over 10 years before making the transition to composition and creative/improvisatory performance. Musically, he constructs an open sonic atmosphere that provides the audience with time to reflect upon and explore the sound. He has developed a technique where he manipulates the overtones to the piano to create an almost electronic wash of sound. By controlling the pace of a piece’s development, his intention is to affect the perception of time through music.
Simon is influenced by electronic music and is particularly interested in trying to replicate the mechanical and repetitive sounds that surround us. He is also attracted to the tension between trying to recreate inorganic sound with the piano and the limitations of the instrument and his own physical mechanism. His solo album Chair was released in 2013 on Room40 and received rave reviews internationally.
“Highlights? It seems slightly perverse to single anything out, so well balanced is the whole set, but the way the rolling, almost romantic opening to poul builds, with simple figures rising to the top around five minutes in, is so warm and detailed that you almost forget there aren’t hidden oscillators or organs buried in the guts of the piano”.
FLUID RADIO (UK)
“The album is a truly breathtaking and overwhelming series of solo piano pieces. Using only the natural sustain (read: no pedals) of the piano and Gruenwald Church in Berlin where this was recorded, Chair sounds almost impossible in the context of its minimalist approach to making massive sounds”.
Tome to the Weather Machine
(CHAIR was number three on Tome to the Weather Machine's top 20 album's of 2013)
s o l o o r g a n
In 2018 Simon made his debut as a solo organist, premiering a new work for the Internationale Orgelwoche Nürnberg. For this performance he played on the renowned St Lorenz Church in Nuremberg on a pipe organ where the pipes are spread around the church in three different positions, allowing Simon to utilise various spatial effect. In 2019 he will record a new album for solo organ.