Goldmund

Like fellow traveller Sylvain Chauveau, Bostonian Keith Kenniff is a sometimes electronics artist (recording as Helios) who spends his moonlight hours at the piano. Also like Chauveau, he has just released an EP that illuminates the roots and branches of minimalism. But Kenniff’s main branch is perhaps as much miniaturist as minimalist. The 11 brief tracks feature cascading repetitions and overlapping movements that hearken back to the schools of Riley, Glass and Feldman. Each is a delightful clockwork that appears fully formed only to vanish wisp-like, leaving the next to take up the space. The inside piano is close mic-ed, creating an intimacy within the physical presence of the music and revealing tiny details created with each impact. The single word titles are linked to form the sentence "Leading them from light to shadow they will see as one,” and this creates another layer of meaning within the music. The final three pieces settle into a quieter lull that concentrates as much on the resonance and sustain as the notes themselves, like a breath of satisfaction slowly released.