MOVING SOUNDS with James Heather

Contemporary pianist James Heather, signed to NInja Tune founders Coldcut’s ‘Ahead Of Our Time’ label presents MOVING SOUNDS, a new monthly show connecting spaces between classical, electronic, ambient, soul, jazz, drone, film soundtrack, folk, field recordings & other sounds from the past but mostly from NOW. James will be joined by the occasional artist guest and inspiring people behind the scenes to chat about their own journeys.

Growing up in Southampton, James’ compositions came aged 11, inspired by a love of Beethoven and his neighbours acid house pirate radio station. James spent years honing composition in secret before some major life events were the catalyst to him stepping up with his debut album “Stories From Far Away On Piano” in 2017. It brought a fresh take to solo piano music, taking influence as much from electronic music in structure and ambience framed within a classical and jazz grounding, it soaked up all the myriad of music around him and executed a version of it on one instrument, acoustically. HIs music has a simple, innate beauty with a stark intensity simmering within, emotional tonally powerful landscapes shift from harrowing, sad, hopeful, to the profound.  

James has collaborated with and has been reworked by artists such as DJ Seinfeld, Mary Lattimore, Roger Robinson (King Midas Sound), Dawn Richard, Mumdance, Sarah Davachi, Echo Collective and many more. He has played events such as Glastonbury, Wilderness, Green Man, War Child/Brit Awards and been played bills with Laura Marling, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Lubomyr Melnyk and Bill Laurance. James has done mixes for Solid Steel, NTS, Electronic Explorations, Vinyl Factory and Headphone Commute.

‘MOVING SOUNDS’, born out of his long running playlist of the same name, will show an insight into his own music tastes and other interests, supporting artists and creative people ranging from scene figureheads to ones on the very first steps of their journey.