“Transporting Leaves” by Tiger.A. is a heartfelt solo piano album featuring eight improvised, calming pieces. The piano in this album has a muted sound, achieved through the use of sordino, which creates an atmosphere of softness and calm, like a gentle mist.
Listening to “Transporting Leaves” is like walking alone in a foggy landscape with no end in sight. The pieces are relaxing and beautiful, but they also carry a somber and gloomy undertone.
In addition to creating music, Tiger.A. is also a painter. He designed and executed the album's cover artwork, which uses vibrant colors with soft edges, mirroring the music. The form and technique of the artwork are reminiscent of Edvard Munch’s style, particularly his famous painting “The Scream.”
Just as in the artwork, there is a duality in the music. It possesses a brilliant beauty, with a soft performance that avoids dissonance, creating a feather-like cushion for the ears. At the same time, the harmonic progression is unconventional, with key changes and occasional jumps between scales within a few bars. There’s no tangible rhythm, which, while aiding the relaxing flow of the pieces, also creates a hazy environment—evoking the same foggy landscape mentioned earlier.
The composition style of the pieces further contributes to the somber, ambient mood. Tiger.A. has improvised most of the album based on specific themes, using a technique called “through-composed” in his improvisations. In this style, the composer does not frequently repeat the main theme; instead, the theme acts as a leitmotif, establishing rhythmic and harmonic patterns from which the music organically develops.
Much like a seed growing into a beautiful flower, the themes in Tiger.A.'s music serve as the starting point, eventually blossoming into full-length pieces. “Through-composed” was mostly used in Renaissance music, and it gradually fell out of favor during the Classical and Romantic eras until contemporary composers revived this fascinating form.
“Transporting Leaves” is a brilliant album, one with an ambient atmosphere. Its aim is not to create catchy tunes you can remember and whistle later; rather, each piece, as soft as a leaf, transports you to a dream world. While the album serves as a perfect background, it also guides your imagination to take the lead.
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