Ezra Was Right

Created by German duo Grandbrothers, pianist Erol Sarp and sound designer Lukas Vogel, Ezra Was Right was built entirely from sounds generated by a grand piano. Sarp performed the piano parts while Vogel used custom-built, computer-controlled hammers to strike the instrument, recording, manipulating and looping the resulting sounds. First shared in May 2013, Ezra Was Right attracted early support from BBC broadcaster Gilles Peterson, who included it on his Brownswood Bubblers Ten compilation and played it on his Worldwide radio programme. It placed seventh in the programme's 2013 listener-voted Tracks of the Year and subsequently appeared on the duo's debut Ezra EP in February 2014, whose initial vinyl pressing sold out within ten days. Ezra Was Right established Grandbrothers' distinctive approach of creating electronic arrangements entirely from acoustic piano sounds and became the foundation for their 2015 debut album Dilation. Its wider influence was reinforced by remixes from Greg Wilson and Derek Kaye and Kim Brown, while its inclusion on Dilation cemented its position as a defining recording in the duo's early catalogue.