This duo makes electronic music using a grand piano. Erol Sarp, 32, and Lukas Vogel, 31, form Bochum-based Grandbrothers, although they wouldn't necessarily describe their music in such simple terms. "It's more a mix of jazz, classical, electronic, many different elements," Sarp says. The pair have contrasting roles: trained jazz musician Sarp plays the piano while Vogel stands to one side, quietly shaping and sculpting the sound using software that he designed himself.
The partnership began when Sarp and Vogel met in 2007, in a small class of 25 at Düsseldorf's Institute of Music and Media. "One side of the university was very technical, we had to do exams in maths and engineering. The other side was pure music," Vogel says. He was the engineer and Sarp the musician. Intrigued by the idea of manipulating piano sounds, Vogel started to experiment with synthesizers and digitising music until he came up with his two-part software.
The first part of the software controls the hammers which hit the piano strings to change their sound. "It was a big moment when we first heard those hammers. I programmed a pattern, a repetitive pattern, and I just played it," Vogel says. The second part of the software controls the live sampling of piano music. "The idea was to record a sound and play it back, again and again," he says. The result was an experimental mixture of classical piano and modern electronica. "It's a totally unique sound," Sarp says.
That same year, Grandbrothers got their first gig as part of a university exam. "We had to write six songs and perform them," Sarp says. "Our audience was going wild, they said we had to get this on a record." A year later, the pair signed for the FILM label and in 2012 they set to work on their first album, Ezra Was Right, which was released in 2014. Now, Grandbrothers have just released their second set, Open, and will tour Germany, France and the UK in November.
And the pair are not finished experimenting just yet. Vogel is working to make the piano sound deeper and heavier using software. "I am sure that he will come up with some crazy new schemes. There will definitely be a time in the future where there is nothing more to explore, but I think we are very far away from that," Sarp says. "In fact," Vogel explains,"I have a few new ideas already."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
