Bruno Heinen: Boxed Invert Presume
Heinen Records
Boxed Invert Presume reflects its creator's interest in exploring the limitless potential of his instrument. The second solo piano album by London-based Bruno Heinen builds on the study of improvised counterpoint undertaken during his doctoral research, its curious title Boxed Invert Presume an anagram of ‘overdub experiments.' To produce the tracks, he recorded seven largely improvised parts and a day later grafted a second piano component onto each one.
The eight albums Heinen, who recently completed his PhD at the Royal Northern College of Music (Counterpoint in Jazz Piano with Specific Relation to the Solo Work of Fred Hersch the dissertation title), released prior to Boxed Invert Presume encompass a broad range of interests, from inspired re-imaginings of Stockhausen (Tierkries), Vivaldi (Changing of the Seasons), and Bowie (Pretty Things) to the affectionate homage Postcard to Bill Evans. The new addition to that discography is in keeping with the intrepid nature of the pianist, currently professor of piano and composition at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music.
Released digitally on his own Heinen Records, the half-hour recording generally exudes a cool, cerebral character in the way the pieces' patterns entangle with mathematical rigour. “Tetris Til” is animated by metronomic interlacing that in its rhythmic charge takes on a rather Monk-like quality, and during “Giltie,” the repeated voicing of a single-pitched note acts as an underpinning to a series of stream of consciousness-like statements that grow increasingly agitated as the piece develops.
To offset that emphasis, Heinen smartly includes alongside the more experimental-sounding pieces a few easier to warm up to. To that end, “Mountainville Avenue” and “Object 11” advance ruminatively, their tone infused with subtle jazz feeling. He's also not without a sense of humour. The intertwining patterns lurching and stumbling through the cheekily titled “Techno Tempo” are as far removed from clubby dance music as could be imagined, and playfulness surfaces in a few other places too. No matter the particular concept in play, Boxed Invert Presume remains the sound of an artist testing out creative possibilities, pondering future directions, and refusing to sit still.April 2021