Poppy Ackroyd announces European & UK tour dates

Poppy Ackroyd   Announces European & UK tour dates   Album ‘Liminal’ out now via One Little Independent Records   Smartlink Spotify

“Wonderful” – The New York Times   “Poppy Ackroyd can conjure whole worlds of sound out of the barest essentials” – Stereogum   “On par with neo-classical giants Nils Frahm, Max Richter and Hauschka” – MOJO   Acclaimed composer and pianist Poppy Ackroyd has announced a new run of European and UK live dates in support of her intimate new album ‘Liminal’, out via One Little Independent Records.   The tour begins this November with seven performances across Germany and the Netherlands, opening at Tonne in Dresden on 9th November before visiting Berlin, Jena, Bochum, Hamburg and Hannover, and concluding at TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht on the 16th. Ackroyd will then return to the UK in February and March for a run of performances in some of the country’s most distinctive concert spaces, beginning at Leeds’ Howard Assembly Room on 25th February. Further dates include Newcastle, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Southampton and Bristol.   The shows will bring the evocative world of ‘Liminal’ to the stage, exploring the intricate textures, rich sonic detail, and layered arrangements at the heart of Ackroyd’s music. For the first time since her debut, the album brings piano and violin together exclusively, with every sound drawn from the two instruments alone. This imaginative and tactile approach to sound comes alive in her performances, where Ackroyd moves beyond conventional piano playing, reaching inside the instrument to mute and pluck strings while building captivating layers of percussion, melody and rhythm, revealing the remarkable versatility and expressive range of the piano.    Written and recorded during a period of profound upheaval and transition, ‘Liminal’ saw Ackroyd embrace a more immediate and instinctive way of working. The record was composed over just three months, with piano and violin improvisations captured alongside scored material and carefully shaped over time.   “In the last three years everyone I loved most in the world needed me, all at once,” Ackroyd explains. “There has been new life and death, heartbreak and many other things that are not my stories to tell. I have also moved across the country to a part of the world I have never lived in before.”   Although born from an exceptionally difficult period, the album carries with it a sense of movement, release and renewed joy. “I had such a chaotic few years, but the only way to cope was to allow things to be messy,” Ackroyd says. “Embracing the messy and imperfect but still getting things done. I decided to apply this approach to my music making and I found that I still maintain the same attention to detail but without the pressure, and I fell in love with making music again in a whole new way.”   The return of violin is particularly central to ‘Liminal’. Having not played it extensively for several years, Ackroyd found layering the instrument alongside her own piano performances unexpectedly powerful.   “There is this amazing feeling you get when you play with another musician that you know really really well, but when you are playing alongside yourself it’s quite powerful,” she explains. “With the violin you have control over the whole length of the note in a way that you don’t when you’re playing piano. It feels like you can say more. Like singing.”   Ackroyd wrote, performed, recorded, mixed and produced ‘Liminal’ herself, with mastering by Matouš Godík and layout and design by Ruth Keating. The album’s artwork features a photograph taken by Ackroyd from her studio window on Christmas morning, looking out across the ancient woodland and mist-filled valley surrounding her home.   Her music has featured across documentary, dance and theatre, including work with New York City Ballet, while the National Theatre used ‘The Calm Before’ as the opening music for The Seagull. Her collaboration with Ainslie Henderson, Shackle, won Best British Film at the London International Animation Festival.   At its heart, ‘Liminal’ is a record about endurance and transformation. “There’s a euphoric feeling after doing something you’re scared of,” Ackroyd reflects. “I feel like I’ve been broken in a way I never thought I could be, but I’m also stronger than I ever thought I could be.”   Art credit: Ruth Keating & Poppy Ackroyd   Photo credit: Nikita Laganovskis   Live dates   09.11 – Dresden, DE – Tonne 10.11 – Berlin, DE – Silent Green 11.11 – Jena, DE – Trafo 12.11 – Bochum, DE – Christuskirche 13.11 – Hamburg, DE – Halle 424 14.11 – Hannover, DE – Feinkost Lampe 15.11 – Bielefeld, DE – Bunker Ulmenwall 16.11 – Utrecht, NL – TivoliVredenburg 25.02 – Leeds, UK – Howard Assembly Room 26.02 – Newcastle, UK – Gosforth Civic Theatre 27.02 – Edinburgh, UK – Pianodrome 03.03 – Liverpool, UK – Liverpool Philharmonic 12.03 – Southampton, UK – Turner Sims 13.03 – Bristol, UK – Lantern Hall 19.03 – Nottingham, UK – St. John’s Church 31.03 – Prague, CZ – Simon and Juda Church (Piano Day, double bill with Yehezkel Raz) 01.04 – Budapest, HU – A38