"Night Life" and "Weeping Willows" are two intimate and meditative solo piano compositions by Benny Gebert, the primary songwriter and composer for Brooklyn-based indie pop duo HAERTS.
Inspired by the serene surroundings of Gebert’s upstate New York home, the natural world is imprinted all over this decidedly nocturnal release. The staccato serenade of crickets works in concert with the charming, contemplative melodies. Recorded during a heatwave at the height of summer, the album had to be captured with the windows open, subsequently capturing nature’s evening symphony. Gebert invites the listener through the doors of the century old farmhouse and into the improvisational sessions through which the album was recorded.
Influenced in equal parts by the jazz improvisation of Keith Jarrett and the minimalism of Phillip Glass, there is a particular timelessness to the pastoral midnight ambience of these songs. Like the creaking of a floorboard, the songs feel aged, as if they've always existed somewhere, behind the layers of wallpaper, humming in the background.
