Alasdair James Dodds is a part-time pianist and composer who’s always on the lookout to collaborate and build his sound, all while composing positively beautiful pieces for the piano. One such piece is “Fearless”— keep reading for my thoughts!
The intro to the piece is grandiose, with elaborate lines that extend over multiple octaves on the left hand, and as the melody makes itself present, there is a sense of grandeur, of optimism, and of positive energy that “Fearless” exudes. Based very loosely on the alternating arpeggiated left hand line which serves as the foundational motif for the piece, the evolution into the upper registers is quite nice, and as Alasdair reaches into his melodic Pandora’s box, melodies and counter-melodies keep coming, and each contributes more than the previous one, consistently elevating the quality of the track.
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The second part of the piece lets us witness Alasdair slowly unify all the melodic ideas after exploration in depth; the arpeggios settle, the bass becomes simpler so as to afford more focus to the melody, and forms more solid accompaniment. There is much to like about the synergy between the bass and the melodies here, something I quite loved listening to.
The production, well, it’s the piano, the singular. Not more, not less— yet, there is a certain fullness, a certain soul to the piano that lets it shine bright regardless of there being no other elements to supplement the mix on “Fearless”. The tone up above is bright while not being overly icy so as to unsettle, and there is great body down low in the middle to lower notes, contributing very well indeed to the warm, full-bodied sound that “Fearless” has. The mix tames both extremes of the spectrum rather well, and the listen is welcoming and pleasant, as a result.
Check out “Fearless” by Alasdair James Dodds here!
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