{"id":20537,"date":"2026-06-03T05:49:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T10:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=20537"},"modified":"2026-06-03T05:49:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T10:49:27","slug":"martin-virgo-ghost-piano-debut-solo-album-by-composer-producer-and-mono-founder-out-21st-august-2026-available-digitally-now-via-bandcamp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=20537","title":{"rendered":"MARTIN VIRGO : ‘Ghost Piano’ – debut solo album by composer\/producer and Mono founder out 21st August 2026 available digitally now via Bandcamp"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Martin Virgo<\/strong> is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer who worked with musical luminaries such as Bj\u00f6rk and Massive Attack in the early 1990s before going on to enjoy global success with his own band, Mono, later in that decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost three decades on, Virgo is releasing his debut solo album. Entitled \u2018Ghost Piano\u2019, it can be seen as a prequel to his hit-making years. Classically trained in composition and piano at the Guildhall School of Music, he had developed a taste for Chopin, French Impressionism, the austere strangeness of Erik Satie and the minimalism of Philip Glass and Brian Eno. However, he then hooked up with Nellee Hooper and began a career in pop music that also led to work composing for cinema and TV commercials. These included an award-winning ad for Help The Aged VIEW<\/a>.

\u201cI came to the point a couple of years ago when I wanted to create something that was completely stripped of all the frippery and distractions of modern production techniques,\u201d <\/em>explains Virgo. \u201cI wanted to write music that had a sense of lineage, but within a very distilled style. I also wanted to take a break from the world of digital audio production, so all the tracks on \u2018Ghost Piano\u2019 were recorded live by myself on a Steinway model B acoustic grand piano, with the cello on the title track played by Nick Cooper <\/em>(The Michael Nyman Band).\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Ghost Piano\u2019 contains eleven evocative pieces in which the listener can hear the \u2018ghosts\u2019 of Chopin, Debussy and Satie playing in the absinthe soaked atmosphere of late 19th century Paris. \u201cYou can hear those influences on this album, although I think there are also traces of my time working with Bj\u00f6rk on \u2018Debut\u2019, Massive Attack and Nellee Hooper on \u2018Unfinished Sympathy\u2019 and \u2018Safe From Harm\u2019, Shara Nelson on \u2018Friendly Fire\u2019 and Alanis Morissette on \u2018Still\u2019 <\/em>(from the film Dogma),\u201d <\/em>Virgo adds. \u201cThese were all formative creative experiences for me. By the time I came to write and produce Mono songs like \u2018Life In Mono\u2019 <\/em> VIDEO<\/a> and our album \u2018Formica Blues\u2019 <\/em>LISTEN<\/a>, I had embarked on a quest for a more European sounding harmonic and melodic palette.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

digital release available now
Bandcamp<\/a>

album includes
PARIS 1889<\/em>
Bandcamp audio<\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0YouTube audio<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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