Over the past decade, New York-based composer and producer Kelly Moran has challenged the piano’s traditional, classically-imposed school of thought with a more contemporary, experimental approach. An accomplished and highly sought-after composer, Moran has collaborated with artists the likes of Oneohtrix Point Never as part of his touring ensemble for 2018 album Age Of, as well as singer and composer FKA Twigs’ live ensemble. Moran has also composed for classical musician Margaret Leng Tan and worked with other visionary contemporaries like Kelsey Lu and Yves Tumor. As a solo artist, Moran’s critically acclaimed albums, Bloodroot and Ultraviolet, have explored a variety of extended piano techniques like John Cage-inspired prepared piano and exercises in improvisation. Her unique strand of experimental piano compositions, which conjure hypnotizing textures and dramatic compositional arcs, have been included on year-end lists across classical, avant-garde, and metal genres. Moran’s work spans a range of approaches, from the prepared piano techniques which defined earlier works like 2017’s Bloodroot to more experimental capacities found in her 2018 Warp debut Ultraviolet. Her compositions often place her instrument in dimensions both isolated and inward, reflecting the intense practice Moran puts into becoming an even more masterful pianist.
A significant development in Moran’s artistic evolution has been her work with the Yamaha Disklavier–a technologically advanced version of a reproducing piano. Able to perfectly replicate humanlike playing through intense fine-tuning and programmable dynamics, the Disklavier acts as a foil to Moran’s own striving for a balance of technical perfection and emotional expression in her performances and compositions. Moran augments her pianistic abilities by utilizing the Disklavier to write intricate piano parts that go beyond human capabilities. Alongside Moran’s real time playing, listeners are treated to accompaniments by the Disklavier that feature inhumanly fast arpeggios, chords requiring more than ten fingers to play, and other motifs surpassing physical limits on the piano. Used in an experimental capacity, the Disklavier explores the realm of the inhuman and impossible. A signed Yamaha artist, Moran’s utilization of the stalwart brand’s pianos includes both trans-acoustic pianos and multiple Disklavier pianos, allowing her to expand her piano experimentation to an even further degree. Moran began working with the Disklavier when she was commissioned to compose a piano duet for herself and acclaimed composer Missy Mazzoli. Yamaha Music loaned Moran a Disklavier piano as a means to help aid in the compositional process so she could hear in real time what her duet would sound like without another pianist there to perform with her. During periods of compositional isolation, the Disklavier has become her beloved duet partner, removing the limits of physicality thanks to the instrument’s motorized existence. When paired with Moran’s own, graceful performance, the duality of the human and the inhuman presents the idea of perfection as something which is attainable through exertion and compositional obsession, but also within the Disklavier’s automation and fine-tuning. Dancing around Moran’s own performance, the Disklavier’s extended range and beyond-human capabilities result in multi-layered and heavily orchestrated compositions. The depth of emotion and a human touch can be found within Moran’s performance which, even through specific and obsessive composition, is not captured by the Disklavier.
Moran’s work is influenced by contemporary classical artists like Philip Glass, John Luther Adams, Olga Bell, Julia Wolfe, and David Lang, as well as alternative and electronic artists like Aleksi Perala, Telefon Tel Aviv, and Tori Amos. Her compositions exist at a precipice above two unlikely worlds. Utilizing classical minimalism’s repetition and texture, but also the idea of modernized and synthesized “texture” found within electronic music, her work’s duality exists beyond the idea of humanity versus superhumanity and superimposes Classical Modernity upon an even more contemporary school of thought. Moran’s compositions portray her in a compositional school all her own. Her work presents itself as personal, exuberant explorations of humanity versus the machine and technicality versus musicality, gliding between two worlds with elegance and a balanced mastery.”