British neoclassical composer Poppy Ackroyd reunites piano with violin for her upcoming album Liminal, announced today for a June 5 release, with every element built from those two instruments alone.

Ackroyd wrote, performed, recorded, mixed, and produced the album herself, with mastering by Matouš Godík. Listen to lead track "The Unknown" below.

Composed quickly, over just 3 months, Liminal's eight pieces emerged from "a chaotic few years", based on both composed and freely improvised material. "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," she says in a press release. "It feels like you can say more. Like singing."

Talking about the challenges she's faced over the past 3 years, she adds:

"The only way to cope was to allow things to be messy. 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 Unknown" is her first release since last year's standalone single "Notes on Water", a work she composed for her artist father Norman Ackroyd in the final months of his life. “There’s a euphoric feeling after doing something you’re scared of,” she 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.”

Liminal is released on June 5 via One Little Independent. Pre-order here. Tracklist below:

1. In The Mist
2. Shimmer
3. Continuum
4. For Those Who Wait
5. The Unknown
6. Drift
7. Weightless
8.Between Two Worlds

Tour dates: 
 
03/27 Hasselt, BE @ Cultuurcentrum Hasselt
03/27 Bristol, UK @ Bristol Beacon
06/08 Norwich, UK @ NAC
06/10 London, UK @ Grand Junction
06/11 Manchester, UK @ St. Michaels
06/17 Dublin, IE @ Pavilion Theatre

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