Will Gardner’s debut album “Remains” is a recollection of his experience caring for his father through the late stages of Parkinson’s dementia.
It explores the darkness of the condition itself (the memory loss, the paranoias and disturbances) – alongside Will’s own experience as a carer – the grief of losing a parent in slow motion and what it means to grieve for someone who is still alive.
At the heart of the album are Will’s Dad’s diaries. Fragments of the text were used to derive the rhythms and melodies on which the album is built before the text was removed, so only the music remained.
Will has spent much of his musical life operating behind the scenes and moving between roles as an arranger, conductor and pianist. He has contributed string arrangements to bands like alt-J, Daughter, hmltd and Låpsley and has orchestrated numerous film and TV scores – including Tin Star and BAFTA-nominated Blue Jean.
Remains, released via Castles in Space, is Will’s debut album and first release as an artist in his own right. His work is influenced by his experiences working across various musical genres – often combining processed, improvised piano, vocals and other instrumentation to create digitally transfigured contemporary classical soundscapes that explore the spaces between the abstract and the figurative.