If Hot Chip were the earth then Alexis Taylor would be its warm, soft inner core. His delicate, feathery falsetto is the most subdued element of Hot Chip’s sound, but it’s also powerful and provocative despite coming off nonchalant. He has a couple of side projects other than Hot Chip, but as of 2014 he also records under his own name. His first solo effort, Await Barbarians, was a simple, tender plea all his own. Today, he’s announcing the follow-up, Piano, an album of just Taylor’s heavenly voice as he tickles the ivories. Here’s what he had to say about the LP:

The idea with this record was to choose songs of my own and others’ that were personal to me and to document live performances which were intimate and unadorned. I wanted to reduce everything to the barest elements, record a great piano well and do as little as possible to the recordings EQ or effects-wise. The mood created on the record is pretty different from that on other records I have been involved with. It feels like a special place to be able to go to.

The first taste of his intimate recital is “I’m Ready.” It’s a gorgeous, vulnerable ballad with sparse piano and gentle emoting through his fluent falsetto. Listen.

Tracklist:

01 “I’m Ready”
02 “So Much Further to Go”
03 “Crying in the Chapel”
04 “Without Your Name”
05 “In The Light of the Room”
06 “Lonely Vagabond”
07 “Repair Man”
08 “Don’t Make My Brown Eyes Blue”
09 “I Never Lock That Door”
10 “Just For A Little While”
11 “Don’t Worry”

Piano is out 6/10 via Moshi Moshi. Pre-order it here.

CREDIT: Stuart Leech