Music has taken Sebastian Plano half-way around the globe.
Born into a musical family in his native Argentina, he explored North America before finally settling in Berlin, one of Europe's great creative hubs.
Developing his own potent voice, Sebastian's work is centred on his love affair with the piano, using this as a means to explore musical possibilities.
New album 'Verve' is out now on Mercury KX, a wonderful record that shows the real scope of his imagination, and emotional power that comes with it.
The title track has just gained a beautiful video – watch it below, then catch a Q&A with Sebastian Plano after the jump.
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'Verve' is the title song of your album, how important was it to the project?
'Verve' was a key important track in the album. From all the works I lost, back in 2013, the song 'Verve' was the one that resonated the most in my head. I had no recording or demos neither written notation of it, what was only left of it was in my head and my fingers.
From the beginning, I knew this was the track I wanted to reconstruct the most, therefore it took an essential part in the album making, I'd say 'Verve' is the heart of the album itself.
Can you recall writing the song? How did it emerge?
Back in 2012, when I first wrote the track it had a different form, the reconstruction of it has a lot to do with overcoming the frustration and the anger at the moment I was reconstructing it. I remember times wanting to drop the whole thing and it was exactly at those moments when I would say to myself ‘Fuck everything! Let me just do music!', and force myself to forget the past and most importantly to brake apart all pre-made forms.
There is something frantic about the piano playing in the track and I grant these lines came out as a result of the need to push myself to just forget and create.
You feature in the video, what was the shoot like?
It was an intense but really great journey; we brought a Yamaha CP-80 electric piano to an abandoned distillery in Berlin and shot for one full day. We focused on bringing across the full ensemble performance of the three overlaying piano parts, the cello and the vocals. The use of light was really important as well since it was the key element to bring dynamism to the entire cut. And surely we all got our decent amounts of dust into our organisms once we called it a day..!
The piano plays a prominent role in the video, and obviously your work. What is it that has drawn you to the instrument? What makes it play such a role in your life?
I believe we musicians, very often create a very strong bond with a particular instrument, the piano Yamaha CP-80 takes that place for me. It was a while since I was searching for one of these models until in 2011 I get a call from a San Francisco's instruments dealer telling me that he just received a CP-80 from Korea. I ran out the door to go and try it out and after playing one chord, I stood up and said 'I want to buy it'.
The piano got to enjoy two years of San Francisco until in 2013, I shipped it to Berlin by cargo. I took three months to cross the atlantic on a ship and arrive to my new home in Berlin. It's a truly inspiring and versatile instrument with a tender soft tone which has been fulfilling amazing night journeys for me.
What next for Sebastian Plano?
An extensive European tour to be announced soon + an exciting new duo project also to be announced soon + a collaboration album to be released. …and hopefully if times allowed it, a 4000 kilometres road trip to the north of Argentina!
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'Verve' is out now.
Photo Credit: May Xiong
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