From Phondupe:

"Spores" is my first new music in over two years.

After years of making electronic music, I started writing for piano in 2019 - a rainy day on a weekend away in the bush, where the place had an old piano in the corner. I sat down, pressed a few keys, and “Spores” came out.

This led me on a bit of a journey, and the piano became my friend for the first time since I was a kid.

Every time I’d sit down to play, something new would want to be born. But I got frustrated pretty fast: I didn’t have the ability to play my own pieces.

It wasn’t that they were complex, but they were calling for a delicateness that I didn't have. It felt like I had to wire my heart to my hands - they felt disconnected.

It's taken a few years, but slowly they have found their way back to each other. That rebuild is never-ending. This feels like a snapshot of a lifelong journey, a photograph; imperfect and real.

I hope it finds a place in you, as it has for me 🙏🏼

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Phondupe returns in 2024 after a lengthy break with a subdued suite of meditative piano compositions exploring his shadow. Written between 2019 - 2022, the tracks reflect a world at its most turbulent, but also a cathartic cocoon from the storm.

“It’s no secret what we’ve all been through the last few years but this is definitely not a lockdown record. I’ve become a father over the last two years and the last thing I wanted to do on 3 hours sleep was stare at a screen - I had to get out of my head. The challenge was to keep everything on the piano and not jump to extra synths or layers - I wanted this to be as raw as possible”.

TORSO does just that; eight pieces that capture a singular energy, a transient emotion, as it passes through time and works its way through the body.

“These pieces provided a real refuge, a spiritual practice that slowly evolved. When I wrote them, I couldn’t play them. It took me a couple of years to really grow into the tracks - I still don’t think I’ve mastered them but I decided it was time to share them with the world”.

While never released, many of the tracks from Torso have found their way into the world over the last few years via Phondupe's installations at The Art Gallery of NSW and ambient performances at the likes of The Sydney Opera House.

An ever-evolving multidisciplinary artist, Torso builds upon the popularity of Phondupe’s ambient releases - Air Conditioning Vol. 1 has clocked up over 200,000 plays on Apple Music and Spotify. While ambient single Ama manifested in a large scale 360 degree immersive installation at Vivid Sydney 2023 which saw over 300,000 experience the track through a display of lucid visuals.

TORSO will be gradually released via a suite of singles starting in March 2024, on the producer’s very own AIR CON RECORDS.