Aparat: Aparat

A joint effort between Rip Rig and Panic’s Mark Springer and Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s Arthur Jeffes, Aparat is an experiment in harnessing the wide-ranging scope of cinematic arrangements into closed and personal spaces. Pianist Springer, whose approach to playing has encompassed everything from classical and jazz to punk, hones his touch to minute caresses which allow the notes to suspend amid layers of harmonics. Between the two musicians are the piano, dulcitone, harmonium, celeste and spinet. For his part, Jeffes employs a difficult and disciplined measure, tracking Springer’s citations with restless purpose. The music is always achingly fragile and beautiful. Together, these musicians precipitate the airs of a softly brewing storm and there’s a melodious depth to each of these numbers from which hypnotic grooves run soul-deep. “Leger”, an urgent and hushed tango, negotiates an emotional breakthrough that vacillates between mysterious circles drawn in chords and the gentle jolt of Latin swing. It is but one of the 13 compositions on the album that wrests from the air a hovering and slowly dissipating magic.