Over the past few days I have begun to delve into Aphex Twin’s (Richard David James) seemingly bottomless pit of electronic music. Perched on my window, flicking through his catalogue of infectious jungle and acid house beats, I encountered the hauntingly beautiful ballad, ‘Avril 14^th‘. Instantly I was hooked. To be met with such elegant minimalism, from an artist renowned for his complex abrasiveness, you can’t help but be taken a back, shut up, and just listen.

Aphex strips music down to its bare bones across the track’s runtime, encouraging us to find joy in the melancholic rhythm and gorgeous sound. For me it was this unique sound that hit me first, almost angelic in nature, I was fixated on the crystal-clear highs and uncanny lows. To achieve such a sound Aphex took inspiration from a technique called prepared piano. Popularised by music composer John Cage in the 20^th century, prepared piano involves placing objects in between the strings to subtly alter the instruments timbre and character. The result is a sound which is far colder than a regular piano, a sound that is ultimately characterised by the track’s foreboding eeriness.

It is an undoubtedly beautiful track, however, there is a sense amongst Aphex fans that something is not quite right. From the faint mechanical sounds heard on ‘Avril 14th‘, members of his devoted fan base surmised that it was made on a prepared Disklavier. Created by Yamaha, the Disklavier was an acoustic piano with external MIDI capabilities, which allowed it to reproduce a composition without a human player. The result is something that sounds human, but not quite; part human, part machine, our ears are met with delicate digital expressions of the heart.

For years Richard has been treading the line between the technological and the human, and upon ‘Avril 14^th‘ he finds the perfect balance. He proves he is equally capable of spine shaking intensity as he is tugging on your heart strings with a melodic lullaby. Conveying so much emotion through every meticulously placed note it is no wonder the track has become the iconic piece of romantic electronica that it is today. A minimalist piece of timeless music, ‘Avril 14^th‘ has, and will continue to, soundtrack so many lonesome nights.