Simeon Walker: 'I’ve been banging the drum for this melancholic approach to writing'

“There is that interest in the piano that draws people not more than any other instrument, but certainly has a pull because a lot of people tend to have one in the family,” says the 36-year-old Leeds-based pianist who is himself fast making a name in the neoclassical world. “Even though a lot of the time it’s played by one person, I think there’s something that unifies people around it. Leeds has obviously got so many connections with the piano anyway, through the International Piano Competition, and different institutions that have so many people coming through them. I think it’s great and lovely that (the TV show) came to Leeds and had that experience as well.”

This month sees Walker release the second his Imprints EPs of solo piano pieces, which will soon be gathered on one vinyl album. He says the idea coalesced during the Covid lockdown which “necessitated more of an introspective and individual approach to music making” than his 2020 album Winnow. “In a sense the Imprints idea was trying to return to that thing of me playing the piano in my living room where I write and make all the music, and of it being very personal, very intimate, the return of all the mechanical noises as well as the clean sound. Thematically each of the titles of the pieces represent a different feeling or emotion. I was thinking of them as piano miniatures. In a sense the unifying theme is that they’re all different, rather than there being one central concept around the two EPs.

“There’s different artwork for both EPs and for the vinyl. It’s collages of different shapes and figures, a leaf or something that’s more determined or some of them are more abstract, all representing these different emotions and feelings coming together as a unifying thing that, I guess, documents that period in time that was very strange.”

The track Crave was written after the death of both of his grandmothers within a short space of time. Conveying feelings through instrumental music is a challenge, he admits. “For me, and this is just about what I like and what I value, that element of space in the music is key,” he says. “It gives me the space to engage with what I’m thinking or what I’m feeling. Sometimes if I’m listening to music that’s fast-paced, got lots of notes in, very busy and cluttered, that’s cool and I appreciate it for what it is and that talent and the skill involved, but for me I need to just stop a little bit and have that time for reflection.

“I’m running around so much anyway...it’s just this idea of trying to pivot against what modern life is. Not making a comment on whether that’s good or bad...but just going ‘what do I need in that moment?’ Musically, it’s not filling the space with notes because I need that time, and I think other people do. I’m just offering those musical fragments, those melodies, those chord structures, little patterns that come back again, repeats of motifs here and there, it gives people something to latch onto but they’re listening out for it again or it just changes subtly the next time.

“I’ve been banging the drum for this sad and melancholic approach to my writing over the years, which is true, but I’m trying to also think about this from the perspective of it being more than just background music...It’s trying to encourage people to say why don’t you just sit down and listen and maybe put some headphones on. I guess we’re all looking for a bit of escapism every now and again, but it’s trying to be real, to be present. It’s always for me about trying to be authentic and genuine in what I’m doing.”

Having recently played lunchtime concerts across the UK, Walker has a string of Piano Day concerts from March 26, starting at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds and continuing in Leuven in Belgium and Dusseldorf in Germany. The home city date also marks the fifth anniversary of the first Piano Sessions concert he organised at the Brudenell that’s gone on to become a monthly pay-what-you-feel event. “It was an experiment for Piano Day in 2018,” he says. “I just said to Nathan (Clark), ‘What do you think? Let’s try it’ and then it grew out of there.”