James Heather

★★★ Invisible Forces AHEAD OF OUR TIME. DL/LP

More solo meditations from the London-based pianist. While gifted young composer-performers such as Shida Shahabi have successfully surfed, and transcended, the post-Nils Frahm trend for keyboard introspection, too often contemporary piano records default to a procession of foursquare arpeggios signifying not very much. According to accompanying notes, James Heather’s Invisible Forces is contrastingly awash with meaning, its 11 intimate essays expressing everything from Zen-like connection with the universe to forgiveness for the lorry driver who knocked him off his bike and into a coma. Weighty subtexts and a consistent mood of restrained portent haven’t entirely banished the aforementioned arpeggiated banality here, however, which is a shame, because in places – the title track’s sudden angular chordal shifts, Meant To Be’s rumbling left-hand melodrama, the Sakamoto-like flourishes of No Limit To Grief – Heather gives rein to an otherwise repressed idiosyncrasy, suggesting a more original and compelling voice waiting to be unleashed.