When you’re a kid, you are less looking for what’s cool, but more a connection with harmony and melody, and they had that in spades. One thing that stuck with me on those car journeys was a band called Prefab Sprout. He also loved Joy Division, joking that rock should never be ‘soft rock.’ But he also would listen to Mozart and Nick Drake.

He spoke to me about hearing Jimi Hendrix for the first time in the ’60s when he worked in the engine room on boats in the Merchant Navy. I remember sitting in the backseat of our family car, and my dad would always have a wide range of music on the go. Nice! Do you remember your first encounter with music as a child? Luckily I completed building my music studio just before the pandemic started, so I spend a lot of time there. Thankfully ok, just waiting for my second vaccine, so still spending a lot of time at home. Hi James, how have you been coping with 2021 personally? We managed to catch up with James Heather over an interview to find out about the challenges in making Modulations: EP2 on his own, to his thoughts on how music is marked by continous change.

He has let go of a lot of his methods, and you can feel the freedom in his work this time, which is both emotional and powerful. It takes us on a journey that touches on the loss of his father to optimism during this challenging time. James Heather finally returns in 2021 with his much-anticipated and very personal Modulations: EP2. In 2018, he released Reworks, which is an album featuring remixes and alternate versions from incredible names. James Heather’s work has made him a certified “post-classical” artist after he released his first solo release Modulations: EP1 in 2017 ahead of his classical crossover debut album titled Stories From Far Away On Piano. The London pianist and composer delivers beautiful ambient climes and crediting the piano as the main attraction to his compositions. Ninja Tune-affiliated artist, contemporary pianist, and composer James Heather is a prime example of how he can make instrumental piano music fresh and, relevant, as proven in his latest Modulations: EP2 release. The comprehension of classical music had long been privy to a selective audience, but when laced with modernity, one would be pleasantly taken by how it can create a sense of vibrancy and excitement.

Fall from Love by Heather London