I am open to all styles of music and encourage anyone and everyone to partake in the process of creating music, regardless of their level of technical expertise. My aim is to approach music with a sense of openness and wonder, and to never be tied down to any one particular style.
Born in Maine but growing up in Oregon in a musical family, Peter Broderick is a folk singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist who has since collaborated and recorded with a wide array of folk, indie and modern classical musicians both in the US and Europe. Following on a series of EPs, the musician released his first full-length LP in 2008 on Type Records – at the young age of 21. Mostly arranged and performed by himself, Float is a remarkable all instrumental modern classical and ambient opus. A testament to its enduring appeal, the album was remastered and re-released as Float 2013 on the Erased Tapes record label.
I find myself immersed in the folk music scene […] Yet a big part of my musical heart is somewhere else. I walk and ride my bike around town every day, listening to the music of modern composers on my headphones. My mind is blown with the discovery of an emerging collection of music which sounds classical in its instrumentation, yet is somehow as accessible to my ears (or more so) as the songs on the radio.
Composed first on the piano, all ten pieces on the album were gradually expanded and arranged (with the help of viola player Amanda Lawrence) to accommodate a wide range of string instruments, keyboards, trumpet, accordion, musical saw, theremin, drums, as well as field recordings, voice and electronics.
With a minimalist approach, simple melodies on the piano, melancholic string swells and field recordings, the musician envisioned a cohesive suite of delightful short vignettes. Opening with the ethereal “Snowflake”, Float is a fantastic introduction to the modern classical and ambient genres by a young musician unburdened by the baggage of history and tradition.
Utterly cinematic and underpinned by a simple recurring theme on the piano, Float plays like a series of dreamlike short stories. There are moments of elation conveyed by layers of voice (“A Glacier”, “Another Glacier”) or a soaring chord progression on the piano (“A snowflake”). There are moments of introspection with an ambient soundscape adorned by glockenspiel chimes and plucked banjo strings (“Stopping on the Broadway Bridge”). “Something Has Changed” and “Broken Patterns” both flirt beautifully with classical minimalism and electronics.
While already based in Europe and touring with Danish indie rock band Efterklang as a violin player, Peter Broderick released Home the same year on Hush Records, a collection of self-penned songs featuring guitar and multi-tracked vocals.
Not satisfied with the initial mix, Peter Broderick returned to the studio to remaster all tracks with the assistance of Nils Frahm. Float 2013 was then re-released that year with two additional bonus tracks on a separate 7’’ Vinyl.
Almost ten years after its initial release, a true sense of wonder still permeates Float, an album that has undoubtedly proven very influential for a whole new generation of musicians.
