Stephen Emmer is a deliberate genre-defying composer/ artist from Amsterdam, Holland, who believes that limiting yourself to one musical genre is an undesirable restraint on artistic self-development and should not be the main representation or objective in search of a personal musical identity.
Stephen's inspiration for Maison Melody originates in the music of silence by Federico Mompou.
SE: "It is with pride and joy that I here like to offer to you my new album called Maison Melody, an instrumental music-project performed on piano and strings and indie-released on a non-profit basis."
Why is the album named Maison Melody?
SE: "For centuries now a music-composer prefers to work in solitude on his creations and often the only 'companion' in this process is the direct environment, his/her house. The composer develops a special relationship with the house through his creations and this way finds his desire for quietude, the peace of mind so essential to the mental work of composition. Historically music-composers always have distanced themselves from busy communal places in order to be able to better hear their own inner voice that can lead to a more thorough artistic self-expression. In this hyper-focus mode the relationship of yourself with your direct environment, your house, becomes your partner in crime. This way you create at home by travelling in your own mind and tapping in to your own imagination without external distractions.
And this is exactly how I, about a year ago, composed my most personal and introspective melodies sofar in the confinements of my own house and therefore this albumproject is called Maison Melody."
Tell something more about the album?
SE: "After finishing composing and arranging in my own house, later in 2019 I re-recorded the piano and string-quartet outside of the house with some other musicians next to myself such as Marcel Worms, Dimitri Leivici and the West Side Trio in a professional studio and the album got mixed by Francesco Donadello who previously has worked a.o. with Hildur Guonadottir, Johann Johannson & Einaudi. Mastering took place in Berlin early 2020. It contains 10 compositions and they are lyrical and meditative piano - miniatures characterized by impressionist elegance with simple and direct melody with me trying to compose calm and soothing music for people who have an unspoken voice deep inside of them."
Where can I listen to the new album?
SE: "As this is a profit-free project you can listen to it for free on SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Youtube next to the big streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Youtube Music, Primephonic a.s.o. Also preceeding the albumrelease each song will be introduced on a livestream via www.facebook.com/stephenemmerofficial, so check regularly over there or start to follow me there so you get automatic notifications.”
Why the hashtags #createathome and #MMXX ?
SE: "Hopefully you will enjoy listening to Maison Melody and it would be great if it inspires you to also keep on/ to start with creating things whilst at home; to make music, start to paint, write letters & books or anything creative as all art has a positive and calming effect on both the people who create it as on people who experience it. So therefore: #createathome. Maison Melody is released in 2020 and therefore we ve condensed the alliteration of the album title with the year of release: #MMXX."
Stephen Emmer - May 2020
