Jim Perkins - Imprints (2023)

"Imprints" introduces 4 instrumental piano pieces and simultaneously reworks them, breaking each piece down into individual notes and re-recording them using layers of ambient strings.

The individual pitches are played one note at a time on double bass, cello, viola and violin. Each note is played at pianissimo, increasing to mezzoforte as the note appears in the piano score. This creates an imprint or impression of the piano piece rendered in string layers.

The effect is a ghostly, hazy image of the original piano piece as the melody emerges and then disappears.

For each of the four titles, there are three versions: a solo piano piece, an imprint rendered in strings, and a hybrid version that blends the piano part with the imprint.

"Imprints" invites the listener to immerse themselves in the calm ambient waves of texture created through the intricately layered compositional process.