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Piano Magic
Piano Magic was a musical collective formed in the summer of 1996 by Glen Johnson, Dominic Chennell, and Dick Rance in London, England. Their sound has been described as ambient pop, post-rock, indietronica, dark wave, "arty baroque pop" and "English radiophonic soundscapers". While later releases saw them operating in a traditional band format, they originally intended to base their recordings around their small nucleus and whoever else would like to contribute. Glen Johnson was the only remaining member from the original trio when the group disbanded in 2017.
Piano Magic was formed in the summer of 1996 by Glen Johnson, Dominic Chennell, and Dick Rance in London, as a 'bedroom-studio' project with the intention to base their recordings around their small nucleus and whoever else would like to contribute.
Originally reluctant to perform live, they gave way to label pressure when their first single proved popular on the BBC Radio 1 John Peel show and was awarded Single of the Week in Melody Maker. While recruiting Paul Tornbohm to play drums at these gigs, they pointedly refused to play or sound like any of their released material.
Popular Mechanics appeared on I (label)/Ché Trading in 1997, a debut album which the press variously described as "ethereal electro pop atmospheric soundscapes" or "simply delighting in... making silly noises" and which the band thought of as "Small Beat, pre-chip... radiophonics". It included vocals by Hazel Burfitt and Raechel Leigh but, with Rance having quit the band, combined two previous single releases with a set of new recordings by Johnson and Chennell.
The duo then briefly recruited American music students Alexander Perls, Jen Adam and Ezra Feinberg to complete the band, though Chennell too had departed by the time of the second album release Low Birth Weight in 1998, a record described as "dreamy, trance and organic psychedelia". It introduced the vocals of Caroline Potter, who would sing on one further album.
By 1999 only Johnson remained from the original trio, and the departure of Chennell left him free to lead the band into a much more conventional format and sound. A line-up of Glen Johnson, Miguel Marin, John Cheves and Paul Tornbohm recorded the third album, Artists' Rifles, with John A Rivers (producer of Dead Can Dance and Felt), and showcased its guitar-based sound, "a mixture of chiming guitars and processional rhythms", at the Benicassim and BAM music festivals. By now, Piano Magic was proving more popular abroad than in their homeland, and the next few years' activity included mainly European tours.
The band, now minus Cheves, signed to 4AD Records in 2000 and released the soundtrack for Spanish director Bigas Lunas' film Son de Mar in 2001, described as "ethereal, delayed guitar lines... accompanied by various ambient sounds."
Jerome Tcherneyan then replaced Miguel Marin on drums, and the second and last album with 4AD, Writers Without Homes in 2002, was released with mixed press reaction; "exquisite, if a touch diffident." Its myriad guest artists imported talents from Cocteau Twins, The Czars, Tarwater, Life Without Buildings and Tram. It also featured the first vocal recording for thirty-three years of lost '60s/'70s folk heroine Vashti Bunyan.
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Piano Magic
Piano Magic was a musical collective formed in the summer of 1996 by Glen Johnson, Dominic Chennell, and Dick Rance in London, England. Their sound has been described as ambient pop, post-rock, indietronica, dark wave, "arty baroque pop" and "English radiophonic soundscapers". While later releases saw them operating in a traditional band format, they originally intended to base their recordings around their small nucleus and whoever else would like to contribute. Glen Johnson was the only remaining member from the original trio when the group disbanded in 2017.
Piano Magic was formed in the summer of 1996 by Glen Johnson, Dominic Chennell, and Dick Rance in London, as a 'bedroom-studio' project with the intention to base their recordings around their small nucleus and whoever else would like to contribute.
Originally reluctant to perform live, they gave way to label pressure when their first single proved popular on the BBC Radio 1 John Peel show and was awarded Single of the Week in Melody Maker. While recruiting Paul Tornbohm to play drums at these gigs, they pointedly refused to play or sound like any of their released material.
Popular Mechanics appeared on I (label)/Ché Trading in 1997, a debut album which the press variously described as "ethereal electro pop atmospheric soundscapes" or "simply delighting in... making silly noises" and which the band thought of as "Small Beat, pre-chip... radiophonics". It included vocals by Hazel Burfitt and Raechel Leigh but, with Rance having quit the band, combined two previous single releases with a set of new recordings by Johnson and Chennell.
The duo then briefly recruited American music students Alexander Perls, Jen Adam and Ezra Feinberg to complete the band, though Chennell too had departed by the time of the second album release Low Birth Weight in 1998, a record described as "dreamy, trance and organic psychedelia". It introduced the vocals of Caroline Potter, who would sing on one further album.
By 1999 only Johnson remained from the original trio, and the departure of Chennell left him free to lead the band into a much more conventional format and sound. A line-up of Glen Johnson, Miguel Marin, John Cheves and Paul Tornbohm recorded the third album, Artists' Rifles, with John A Rivers (producer of Dead Can Dance and Felt), and showcased its guitar-based sound, "a mixture of chiming guitars and processional rhythms", at the Benicassim and BAM music festivals. By now, Piano Magic was proving more popular abroad than in their homeland, and the next few years' activity included mainly European tours.
The band, now minus Cheves, signed to 4AD Records in 2000 and released the soundtrack for Spanish director Bigas Lunas' film Son de Mar in 2001, described as "ethereal, delayed guitar lines... accompanied by various ambient sounds."
Jerome Tcherneyan then replaced Miguel Marin on drums, and the second and last album with 4AD, Writers Without Homes in 2002, was released with mixed press reaction; "exquisite, if a touch diffident." Its myriad guest artists imported talents from Cocteau Twins, The Czars, Tarwater, Life Without Buildings and Tram. It also featured the first vocal recording for thirty-three years of lost '60s/'70s folk heroine Vashti Bunyan.