We love our phones; we hate our phones. There is an endless fascination with technological advancements that allegedly makes it easier for humans to connect with one another, transport ourselves, listen, watch and find things. At the same time, people are flocking to the natural world, silent retreats, yoga and meditation centers, and announcing these temporary withdrawals from technology on their Facebook posts.
Bay Area-based composer Wendy Loomis explores this dichotomy in her recent release – High Tech, High Touch. She opted for a double EP format as a means of her exploration: “High Tech” is comprised of 8 synthesizer and drum machine focused pieces while “High Touch” features 8 acoustic piano pieces.
Kathy Parsons, of MainlyPiano.com, writes: “High Touch is Wendy Loomis’ seventeenth album and is very likely to be one of my favorites of 2018. The two 32-minute discs are very different from each other, and I certainly wouldn’t have guessed they were by the same artist, but the quality of the music, the recording and production are all top-notch and provide a superlative showcase for Wendy Loomis’ versatility as a composer and musician.”
Ms. Loomis also composes and performs with spoken word jazz ensemble COPUS, has written for numerous independent films, was the composer/pianist for ambient duo Phoenix Rising, and maintains a private piano studio in San Francisco. Wendy has won the ASCAP Award for composition four times and has had many nominations for her music by the Hollywood Music and Media Awards, Los Angeles Music Awards, and the Unisong International Song Competition. In 2013 Wendy traveled to Cuba with the American Composers Forum where she performed her piece “Tangos” at the Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas. in Havana. COPUS single “We All Bleed Red” was in contention for ‘best rap song’ in 2018 by the Recording Academy (GRAMMY Awards).
High Tech, High Touch, can be purchased on iTunes, CDBaby, and Amazon; Wendy’s compositions can be heard on SiriusXM, Comcast, Music Channel, Pandora, Spotify, and many online and offline radio stations around the world. As Parsons concludes in her review: “High Tech, High Touch will not be easy to categorize come awards season, but it should be in line for a whole bunch of awards!”
LINKS:
iTunes – http://apple.co/2vMPx1M
Website – http://www.wendyloomis.com
Review – http://www.mainlypiano.com
A press release by the artist