Poppy Ackroyd: Liminal

Poppy Ackroyd's album Liminal comes five years after her previous release, Pause (One Little Independent Records, 2021). The intervening years and the personal upheavals they brought have left their mark on the multi-instrumentalist's work. The result is a release that should appeal to listeners who enjoy the space where jazz, minimalist, electronic and classical music converge.

Classically trained, Ackroyd composes, performs, records, produces and mixes the eight tracks on the album (she even captured the album cover photograph herself). She uses piano and violin, exploring both instruments with imagination, bowing, plucking and often treating them as percussive tools. She duets with herself to build up soft atmospheric layers. Her compositions feature repeating patterns and chord progressions with her atmospheric textures creating a sound world that recalls artists such as Ludovico Einaudi, Peter Gregson and Helen Jane Long.

Ackroyd opens the album with the solo piano piece "In The Mist." Its slow, sparse, processional chords evoke a sense of introspection and calm. The aptly titled "Shimmer" changes the mood, evolving from a looping right-hand piano motif to an improvisatory passage over subtle percussion and plucked piano strings. The violin takes center stage on "Continuum" to provide a dark motif with layered string textures gradually building a sense of impending drama.

Throughout the album, Ackroyd returns to rhythmic, repeating right-hand figures, continually re-contextualized by shifting harmonic foundations. This approach makes the album work for active or passive listening. Her accessible chord progressions connect on an emotional level and would translate perfectly to film and television soundtracks.

More atmospheric depth is provided by "For Those Who Wait," which moves from sparse piano notes to pulsing strings and percussion with the violin taking the focus. "The Unknown" heightens the drama and tension with swirling strings and choppy percussion before the delightful "Drift" moves from gentle piano passages through plucked violin textures to surges of strings and rhythmic piano motifs.

The pizzicato-driven "Weightless" is another striking cinematic composition before album closer "Between Two Worlds" uses different piano and violin tones to evoke the transitional state suggested by the album's title. Across Liminal, Ackroyd demonstrates her ability to move between melancholy moods and those that engender a sense of wonder, balancing acoustic intimacy with electric enhancement. The result is a series of slow-moving, meditative mantras that help disconnect from the relentless pace of modern life.