Review: Goldmund – Sometimes

Goldmund
Sometimes

Western Vinyl
Street: 11.13
Goldmund = From the Mouth of the Sun + Eluvium + Ruhe

Composer Keith Kenniff’s project Goldmund returns with his first solo piano album in four years. For Sometimes, Kenniff writes short, emotionally resonant pieces around relatively minimal piano lines wrapped in an aural haze of far-off drones and softened electronic manipulation that add a level of depth and mystery to an album, bursting around the seams with heavy-lidded explorations into that knife-edge between sadness and beautiful longing. “A Word I Give,” an album stand out, features a close collaboration with Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who brings an added level of gravitas, despite having just survived cancer. It is no surprise that Kenniff’s compositions have been used for film and television—songs this emotive and plain have a natural-born transportive quality in and of themselves. This is a perfect winter record, one for retreating into oneself while the world outside freezes. –Ryan Hall