The Lumineers co-founder, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Jeremiah Fraites shared his latest solo album offering last Friday, March 29, entitled "Piano Piano 2."
Now available everywhere via Dualtone Records/Mercury KX, the latest record is a follow-up project to Fraites' critically acclaimed 2021 debut album, where he upped the ante in terms of additional instrumentation and cinematic orchestration.
Fraites also expands on the piano-centric soundscape he previously built up, integrating opulent-sounding string accompaniment to aid the listeners' immersion in the keys-dominated record.
"Piano is my all-time favorite instrument," he said. "Think of this album as a soundtrack for a movie that hasn't been made yet."
What 'Piano Piano 2' by Jeremiah Fraites Has to Offer
The album's straight-up evolution from its similarly named predecessor is perhaps demonstrated the best in the artist's lead single "No Surprises," his cover of Radiohead's classic melancholic track that featured vocals from Gregory Alan Isakov and strings from Macedonian FAME'S Studio Orchestra.
The contrast mainly lies in the sonic identity of the two piano-centered records, where Fraites' debut record is taken with a minimalist approach, while "Piano Piano 2" opens up farther and evokes a sense of adventurous expanse through multiple layers of instrumentation.
To list a few of these specific additions, Fraites utilizes percussion, acoustic guitar, strings, spoken-word snippets, and bubbling synths, effectively building up a rich, moody, and cinematic sound throughout the album.
In addition, unlike the bedroom-recorded nature of the previous album, Fraites' latest output was captured in studios across the world, which the artist achieved while on a global tour with his band, The Lumineers.
The string arrangements were recorded in Macedonia, in particular, while other instrumentations were taped in varying locations like Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Denver, and the Catskill Mountains.
One constant, however, is Fraites' utilization of an upright piano. That said, unlike in his previous record where he only used his weird but endearing piano nicknamed "Firewood," he was able to use seven different upright keys this time around, with each one giving a unique audio profile for each song in the record.
"Piano Piano 2" is far more than just an instrument-focused record, as every tickling of keys invokes different moments from Fraites' memory.
Be it heartfelt like footage of his children playing, audio from a phone conversation with his wife, or even more abstractly a dialogue from a late-1980s home film, these memory capsules play out like musical mementos in "Piano Piano 2."
You can now listen to Fraites' new "Piano Piano 2" album by clicking here, or by browsing through the entire record in previews below.
