- gabe lewis, the office season 7 episode 8
a few kind words from aurora mitchell, who writes for bandcamp daily:
New York-based composer Still Life, aka Daniel Fine, has issued a handful of releases over the last few years; his music is reminiscent of both English avant-pop/classical group Penguin Cafe Orchestra and modern classical artists such as Nils Frahm. A joyful, piano-driven work, his new, self-titled album is a particularly fantastical affair. The ascending piano scales on “certain shades of light” are swathed in delay so that they seem to hang in the air, accompanied by the sound of the piano player’s arm rustling in the background. Elsewhere, the human touches and urban white noise on “forest park / debaulviere” and “still with you” paint an intimate, almost spiritual portrait of Still Life’s home city; at one point on the latter track, he juxtaposes a plaintive vocal sample (“I hear you, still with me, still with me”) with the roar of a plane taking off. This theme carries over to “(it no longer exists),” where a different voice muses, “Streets and buildings are haunted, still searching for the truth.” Such mid-song monologues, of which Still Life has many, typically accompany abrupt dynamic shifts that strip the music down to its rudiments: spoken word, ambient noise, and profound longing.