Jon Balke blurs the lines between composition, improvisation, and sound design in his work. With the album "Discourses," he continues the approach he began on "Warp," combining the resonance of his piano playing with multifaceted, manipulated soundscapes. Balke describes this as "distorted reflections and echoes from the world." The album's concept is shaped by reflections on language and the concepts of discourse and dialogue, which increasingly recede into the background in times of confrontational rhetoric. From the outset of the project, Balke had already established the linguistic framework. The increasing polarization of language in the tense political climate of 2019 drew his attention to the terms that would later form the individual track titles. "Discourses" was recorded in December 2019 at the Auditorio Stelio Molo in Lugano and produced by Manfred Eicher.
