Becalmed

The Preservation label presents "Becalmed", the debut album from Sydney pianist Sophie Hutchings. Having begun playing piano young growing up in a musical family, Sophie started writing properly in her teens – indeed, the opening piece "Seventeen" is named for her age at the time it was originally composed, though all on "Becalmed" have been developed and improvised on since their original form. Sophie’s compositions move from disarmingly spare and elegant beginnings to curl out with a tingling edge, propelling its austerity into urgent and epic realms. Violin, cello, drums, percussion and organ heighten the flight these pieces can take as well as dip and swell within the more dimly lit moods of gentler nuance, casting a particular spell across the range of feeling captured in Sophie’s playing