Poppy Ackroyd - Resolve Reimagined (2019)

A year after ‘Resolve’ was released to critical acclaim, breath-taking post-classical artist Poppy Ackroyd releases ‘Resolve Reimagined’ with One Little Indian Records.

The pianist, violinist, producer, and composer has teamed up with a collection of friends and artistic peers, including Hauschka, Penelope Trappes, Max Cooper, Ben Lukas Boysen, Hidden Orchestra, Floex, Daisuke Tanabe and Nuage. As remix albums go, ‘Resolve Reimagined’ is in a total league of its own; each track embarks on its own journey between genres, embracing unmistakable sounds taken from the original pieces yet each one radiates the essence of the artist that remixed it.

The ground-breaking album explores life's constant challenges, and many of the songs are extremely personal to Poppy. In her own words: “Resolve is about the determination to embrace the good things in life whilst dealing with unexpected and challenging difficulties. Finding the light in the dark, facing sadness and loss head-on, and developing a growing inner strength.”

Although a keen collaborator outside of her solo work – having created soundtracks for film, dance, physical theatre and radio – Resolve is the first record for which Poppy employed other players, including Manu Delago (Bjork, Cinematic Orchestra, Anoushka Shankar) playing hang, Mike Lesirge (Bonobo, Andreya Triana) playing clarinets and flute, and Jo Quail on cello.

Ackroyd creates percussive textures from traditional classical instruments, and the result is almost the emulation of an entire orchestra, using very few instruments combined with the artist’s incredible production skills. The gifted artist works by recording improvised contemporary classical piano motifs and then rearranging and manipulating these sounds digitally. The result is a fantastic fusion of acoustic and electronic in a post-classical setting.