Featuring new versions by Papa M (David Pajo), Green Gartside (Scritti Politti), Spring Heel Jack, Beatrice Dillon, Brian DeGraw (Gang Gang Dance) + more

Listen With(out) Piano can be experienced on its own or simultaneously with acclaimed recent album Piano

Alexis Taylor announces Listen With(out) Piano, a companion album to his 2016 record Piano. Released March 3rd 2017 via Moshi Moshi, Listen With(out) Piano features new versions by artists including Papa M (David Pajo), Green Gartside (Scritti Politti), Spring Heel Jack, Beatrice Dillon, Brian DeGraw (Gang Gang Dance), which can be played on their own, or at the same time as the songs on Piano, to create a brand new listening experience.

The album features the work of eleven of Alexis’s favourite musicians, handpicked to create new tracks designed to work in response to the songs on Piano, the third solo album by the Hot Chip frontman. Though the record can be synched with the original Piano recordings by playing both albums on two devices simultaneously, the tracks on Listen With(out) Piano can be also be enjoyed as original songs on their own merits.

“My brief was both very wide open and very specific, and part of the pleasure for me, and now hopefully for the listeners, is to see how everyone responded so differently to the task,” Alexis explains. “The results are truly amazing, and here you have a new album that works both as a kind of electro-acoustic ambient companion piece to Piano, and as a series of musical clothes to be put onto the deliberately bare record I released.”
Piano, recorded at Hackney Road Studios by Shuta Shinoda, was released in June 2016 by Moshi Moshi. An intimate collection of songs comprised entirely of Alexis’s vocal and piano, the record was captured live to preserve each intricacy.

Since 2000, Hot Chip have released six studio albums, as well as a wealth EPs, stand-alone singles, compilation exclusives, remixes and covers. Including Piano, Alexis has released three albums and an EP under his own name, as well as three further albums of material performed with the semi-improvisational About Group. Additionally, Alexis has crafted side projects such as Booji Boy High and collaborated with the likes of Wiley, Peter Gabriel, Will Oldham, Fimber Bravo, Bernard Sumner, Robert Wyatt, Justus Köhncke, The Memory Band, James Yorkston and David Byrne among many others.

“An intriguing character, and a beautiful album.” The Sunday Times

“Alexis Taylor is blessed with a lovely voice: tuneful, emotive and appealingly unforced. So it’s a pleasure to hear that voice accompanied only by the simplest piano lines on Piano.” The Times

“[Piano] works beautifully… a reminder of just what a lovely, evocative voice Taylor has.” The Guardian

“Piano reduces things to the simplest elements – voice and keys. But this turns out to be the perfect carrier for a selection of newies and reinterpretations sung in Taylor’s featherlight quaver.” Uncut

“These songs are tactile, human and weaved with themes that transcend belief.” – DIY

“There’s something almost voyeuristic about listening to this poignant album from Hot Chip frontman … Taylor’s sweet, fragile voice is centre stage.” – Mixmag