All That Is Not Solid Luke Howard

• Luke Howard (b. 1978):
• 1 Passions Of All Kinds 05:08
• 2 Abstract Mathematics 04:55
• 3 Nostalgia 04:28
• 4 Spectral 09:03
• 5 The Metaphysical 05:41
• 6 The Unknown 05:44
• 7 The Unseen 07:11
• 8 Loss And Mourning 08:43
• 9 Antoinette Boulevard 03:30
• Total Runtime 54:23

Info for All That Is Not Solid

Australian composer and instrumentalist Luke Howard will release his new album "All That Is Not Solid".

Named after a quote by composer and academic David Toop, ‘All That Is Not Solid’, is his most audacious and exciting album yet. It documents the four concerts Howard played in January of wholly improvised music. The result is Howard at his purest, highlighting his breath-taking melodic talent. The four weekly concerts at Melbourne classical venue Tempo Rubato in January from which these records stem, saw Howard freely improvise for an hour, before a second half of his existing tunes. The shows took place while bushfires raged in Australia. They were nearly cancelled because of the heat, but offered solace and comfort to audiences when they went ahead.

"All That Is Not Solid" became the natural home for ‘Antoinette Boulevard’. The only song from the shows’ second half of pre-existing pieces, the album’s joyous finale needed an audience to respond to its restless energy. “I could release a whole album of versions of ‘Antionette Boulevard’ I’ve tried in the studio,” he laughs. “That tune has been a bit of a curse before, but it worked as more of a party tune to play at these gigs. I could play it really fast, or start slow and have fun speeding it up. I’d end the shows with it, and after what could have been a melancholy night it’s good to have something to whip through.” Its video is comprised of drone footage edited by Howard of the Australian landscape, from Victoria and New South Wales, filmed by Howard’s friend Finn Robertson.

The eerily beautiful ‘Antionette Boulevard’ video is a reminder of the stark period when Howard’s ‘All That Is Not Solid’ residency took place. Howard is in awe of the resilience of people who lost their homes in the fires, noting: “Their attitude seems to be ‘Oh, we’ll pick up and start again’, when as a city dweller I’d find it such a traumatic experience.” A passionate student of climate change, Howard has explored tackling the subject in his next studio work.

In the seven years since his compelling debut album ‘Sun, Cloud’ was released, Luke Howard has established himself as one of the most important and exciting musicians in contemporary classical music. The composer has been at the forefront of opening up piano music to a new generation, while challenging the notion of what can be achieved in the form. He has twice been nominated for the Australian Music Prize. His 2019 work ‘Beating Heart Stories’ featured stunning reworkings of his acclaimed album ‘Open Heart Story’. The same year, Howard’s first film soundtrack ‘The Sand That Ate The Sea’ for director Matthew Thorne’s documentary about the Australian outback was nominated for Best Soundtrack at the ARIA Awards. He has worked on ballets with The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden and Atlanta Ballet. As well as his solo music, he leads The Luke Howard Trio and has made albums with jazz bassist Janos Bruneel and Grammy-winning trumpeter Nadje Noordhuis.

Whatever the future holds for this most restless, challenging and innovative musician, the beauty and wonder shot through ‘All That Is Not Solid’ is a stunning achievement, an album created on the spot needing years of expertise to draw from first. It sets both Luke Howard free and anyone who cares to listen.

“absolutely heavenly” (Mary Anne Hobbs, BBC Radio 6 Music)

“Contemporary classical music does not get much better than this. Simply stunning.” (Sunday Express)

“Through his short yet prolific career, Luke Howard has distinguished his piano-based work amidst a sea of imitators by its variety and, more importantly, its honesty – the precious sense of his instrument bringing to song his brightest adventures and deepest anxieties.” (A Closer Listen)

“An ambient masterclass” (Musos’ Guide)

Luke Howard, piano

Luke Howard
studied classical piano as a child before graduating with honours from the Victorian College of the Arts. He was twice a finalist in the Montreux Jazz Festival Solo Piano Competition and has written music for both film and theatre.

In recent years Luke has opened for Benjamin Clementine and Ben Frost, and performed with artists as diverse as Lior and Jeff Mills. His music has been described as “totally sublime” (Headphone Commute, February 2014), “absolutely heavenly” (Mary Anne Hobbs, July 2013), and “cinematic in its approach” (The Age, October 2009).

Luke divides his time between Europe and Australia. In 2013 he released the Australian Music Prize long-listed record Sun, Cloud. Luke’s score to Where Do Lilacs Come From won Best Music for a Short Film at the 2014 APRA/AMCOS Screen Music Awards. His second solo album, Two Places, was released in April 2016.

This album contains no booklet.