Artist Spotlight: Meet Hilgrove Kenrick
How did everything come together?
It’s been a long and slow road for this album, writing only in between other commissions, but it's an idea that started during the Pandemic when we all had more time on our hands. I'm so often asked to write big epic sweeping pieces and I really wanted to get try digging into more sparse and stark ideas which is where the idea of intruding on a pianist came in - as if you've just walked through the door and interrupted something. In that environment the pianist wouldn't be perfect, the piano wouldn't be polished, a tune might be hummed or sung sotto voce rather than sound out loud into a mic, an altogether more intimate experience. Each track stands alone and from that the Fragments concept started - this is the first collection, there are more out there already released as singles and EPs, and there are more to come!
What impact do you hope 'Fragments: Part One' will have on your audience?
For the pianist, this is an exploration, I try to aim to let each idea be its own thing, literally a fragment, part of an idea, a half-remembered dream, and just let it be itself, not afraid to be slightly unfinished or gritty. I would love the audience to feel like they've been invited into a rather special space, something private and deeply personal where it's okay to lose themselves in the music the same way as the pianist has. To just be quiet, to be still and be free.
Can you talk about any standout tracks on the album and what makes them special to you?
Two are immediately obvious - “Solitary,” the first Fragment where the pianist ends up humming to himself. I was playing around with the idea and just allowing myself to be in that space when I found myself singing. I'm a trained singer but instead of setting a mic up properly in my studio and recording the traditional way, I just grabbed a stand so I could sing in to it, albeit at a bit of an angle, where I was sat at the piano. Upfront, close and personal, the idea of someone just singing along with themselves as opposed to performing.
”Can we Dream,” the third Fragment is about as personal as things get: it was a hope, an elegy, a dream all caught up in Covid and the wider impact that had on so many people. Life was challenging for those on their own, the elderly or infirm, those in tricky households, all sorts. We had our own particular set of challenges and there were days when the light seemed so very far away. I've always loved exploring the space between the notes and one night this track just appeared out of nowhere, with so much being said in the little creaks from the piano action, the hammers on the strings, and the resonance as each chord chimes out. It started as a Fragment but there's more to come on that theme later this year with rather more than a piano, watch this space!
What has been the most memorable experience or achievement in your music career so far?
I've been very lucky to have had a very varied career and it's this variation that keeps me going and engaged. A few particularly special moments would be watching the first of my singles, "Melt" blast through the 1m plays on Spotify, watching my catalogue top 4m plays on Pandora, hearing a chamber choir perform one of my choral works in the most beautiful chapel, singing in a choir along with not only my children who are both choristers but also with my wife... but I guess the biggest highlight professionally was finding out my score to "Suicide Club" won 3 Best Score awards at different film festivals.
How do you balance the artistic aspects of your music with the business side of the industry?
With difficulty! Though to be honest as I said, i enjoy the variety of it and that means I work quite a lot at keeping things diversified, balancing the committed heavy duty projects that pay the bills alongside using those to allow me to pursue my passion projects too. Like anyone freelance, and particularly in the arts, it's often a struggle, but I'd be no use to anyone if I tried doing anything else, this is who I am and what I do and I'm super grateful to my family for all their support and, particularly, tolerance of my artistic endeavours! I couldn't do it without them.