Contemporary pianist James Heather will soon present Stories From Far Away On Piano, his debut album, on vinyl for the first time, following the album’s August 17 digital release.

Since the release, Heather has been playing live shows ranging from the Greenpeace stage at Glastonbury to the National Concert Hall in Dublin. He was also handpicked by Laura Marling to support at her Brit Awards/War Child gig, whilst other supports have included Jóhann Jóhannsson and Lubomyr Melnyk.

On the surface, Stories From Far Away On Piano‘s solo minimal piano pieces have a simple, innate beauty, but there’s also an intensity simmering within. Heather takes influence from electronic music in structure, ambience, and melody, whilst also utilising a classical and jazz grounding.

The album’s concept meanwhile centres on Heather’s interpretations of real-world stories he read in the news while composing. We’re told that Isis jihadists hijacking the Facebook account of an executed female activist in Syria, the British Empire’s imprisonment of Boers in South African concentration camps, and the undiscovered remains of a disappeared Malaysia Airlines jet in the Indian Ocean were sources of inspiration translated into abstract musical forms.

The black and white album art by Suki features layers of Indian ink bled into newspaper print, repeatedly scanned and treated to interpret the recirculation of information.

Stories From Far Away On Piano will land on vinyl on May 4 via Ahead Of Our Time, with a full stream available below.