The Lumineers' Jeremiah Fraites Shares New Album Piano Piano 2

03-29-2024

(MPG) The Lumineers' co-founder, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Jeremiah Fraites released today his new solo album Piano Piano 2. Available now worldwide through Dualtone Records/Mercury KX, Piano Piano 2 picks up where his critically acclaimed 2021 debut left off while also upping the ante with additional instrumentation, cinematic orchestration, and elegant string accompaniment that fully immerses the listener into Fraites' piano-centric world. "Piano is my all-time favorite instrument," stated Fraites. "Think of this album as a soundtrack for a movie that hasn't been made yet."

Fraites charts new territory with Piano Piano 2. It's not a companion piece to his 2021 debut Piano Piano as much as an outright evolution. If his debut was sparse and minimalist, then Piano Piano 2 is expansive and adventurous, pairing his piano with layers of percussion, acoustic guitar, strings, spoken-word snippets, and bubbling synths. The result is a cinematic record stacked high with mood and melody.

Where Piano Piano was recorded at home in his living room, Fraites began capturing Piano Piano 2's mix of ambiance and atmosphere at various studios across the world while The Lumineers toured the globe. String arrangements were tracked in Macedonia while other instruments were recorded in Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Denver, and the Catskill Mountains. While Fraites primarily used his eccentric upright piano (nicknamed "Firewood") for his debut, seven different upright pianos were used on Piano Piano 2, with each one lending its own unique tone and timbre heard throughout the album.

Piano Piano 2 is an album that demands to be heard, felt, and actively experienced, with songs that soothe one moment and stun the next. Listen closely and you won't just hear Fraites' twinkling ivories - you'll also hear footage of his children at play, audio from a phone call with his wife, and even dialogue lifted from a late-1980s home movie. Those clips are tucked into the far corners of Piano Piano 2 like mementos of the man who made the album, and they add a human touch to a record that's often otherworldly. For an artist who's never been afraid to scale new peaks, Piano Piano 2 finds Jeremiah Fraites climbing skyward.

Known for a propulsive, roots-rock sound that has topped charts and summoned crowds to sing along at arenas around the world, Fraites revealed an alternate side of his musical personality when he unveiled Piano Piano. The revelatory effort featured a gorgeous collection of intimate, piano instrumental songs that he had been working on for the better part of a decade. It debuted at #1 on Billboard's Classical Crossover Albums Chart and earned critical praise from NPR's Weekend Edition, American Songwriter, World Cafe, Earmilk, Associated Press, and led to a performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The album was also nominated for a Libera Award in the category of Best Classical Record in 2022. The following year, Fraites partnered with ambient artist Taylor Deupree for Northern (Redux), a complete reimagining of his acclaimed 2006 album featuring new piano contributions written and recorded by Fraites along with renewed versions of the original tracks composed by Deupree.

Track Listing:
01) Ghosts
02) Spirals
03) Champagne
04) Spiders
05) Rio
06) Welcome
07) Extra Lives
08) Snow Falling
09) Pluck
10) No Surprises

Stream or Purchase Piano Piano 2 here