A Lunaris Release on the Lunar New Year
Chicago’s Joey Chimes released a full album on the lunar new year entitled LUNARIS. The instrumental album takes you on a journey in eight parts as we come face to face with the movements of the moon. The addictingly soothing album features Mr. Chimes (pianist, improviser and composer) on the keys. Brought to you from his apartment, hear Lunaris now.
Artwork by Joey Chimes.
I met Joey Chimes playing piano for a cabaret at a cool club in Chicago in January of 2020. We quickly became fast friends, and realized we were both from the east coast in Connecticut. While we both enjoyed hot yoga and drinking tea at quaint cafes, it was music that binded us. I was absolutely shocked, enthralled and excited about the talent that manifested in the petite body of Mr. Chimes. (His last name is LITERALLY chimes). Not only does he have a gift for cold reading music, his improvisational skills are renowned, obscure and addicting.
On Lunaris:
I have always been drawn to an orchestral sound. Growing up playing trumpet in marching band and watching my brothers play cello and drums at many a silver star, the building and brooding sound of instruments has always struck a special chord inside me. I worried, that with just the piano, I would not feel that way listening to Lunaris. I worried I wouldn’t get the entire swelling sound or enveloping feeling I do when I am sitting in front of a live orchestra. I was, oh so, wrong.
Starting with the brooding yet exquisitely endearing i. , the album captured me. Much like the moon, solitarily orbiting, guiding us with its light, spinning yet controlled, balancing the night; the songs offer just enough space to fall into the sky among the stars while keeping you in orbit, with full attention.
I am the least bit surprised this album is as gorgeous as it is, however, pleasantly shocked on how cohesive it is; showing me different parts of the same fascinating whole.
If you love relaxing music that allows you to be you, in full thought, this is for you. If you love popping in your headphones and walking down the street like the main character in a movie, this is most definitely for you. If none of these ring true, I still dare you to give it a listen. I am sure it will capture you.
In dialogue with Mr. Chimes:
What does Lunaris have to do with the moon?
{Well}, I conceived of lunar in October of last year (2020). Originally, it was going to be thirty movements, one for each corresponding day of the lunar month. I hoped to emulate the gradual and continuous shift in the phase of the moon, and its subtle yet palpable effect on our lives on earth. As such, the music is based in short repeating structures that gradually grow, shift, and change over time, while always remaining firmly rooted in the same musical material.
So, what happened instead of the thirty movements?
As the music materialized, it happened to fit organically into a structure of eight movements rather than the original thirty that I had planned, so I decided to leave it at than, and instead opted to add an improvisational final movement; a cadenza of sorts, if you will; that will incorporate that various musical materials and bring the piece to a satisfying close.
What’s different from your first album, “reflections on solitude” compared to this?
I wanted to shift away from the more improvisational, spur of the moment kind music that was “reflections on a solitude.” Lunaris was very much conceived and planned out from the beginning. It was a much more arduous process as a result because I was challenging myself to work in a way that is somewhat antithetical to the kind of natural, freely-associative method in which I usually write. Improvising on the piano is almost a form of meditation or therapy for me…so where my first album was essentially a collection of therapy sessions that I bundled together and released, this one was the sort of thing where I agonized over every single note, making constant edits and revisions, so on and so forth.
Lunaris was composed, recorded and mixed by Joey Chimes. The album was mastered by Jake Zeisel.
For more of Joey Chimes, hear improvisational album, reflections on solitude, released mid-quarantined in June of 2020.
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