Lambert: 4 transcriptions and 1 interview
Lambert – Skye (with sheet music)
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Lambert – Sweet Apocalypse (with sheet music)
Lambert – Stay In The Dark (with sheet music)
Lambert – As Ballad (with sheet music)
Lambert, pianist
The Cross-Eyed Pianist Interview
Who or what inspired you to take up the piano, and pursue a career in music?
A lack of alternatives can be very inspiring. My Highschool career didn’t lead me anywhere else. Next to music I play a lot of chess, but I prefer music, ’cause you can’t lose!
Who or what have been the most important influences on your musical life and career?
I guess, when I got into improvisation. The way I write music, the way I perform it, the way I live my life, is all based or connected to the idea and concept on improvisation.
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?
Finding out what kind of music I like to write and perform…it was a long journey!
Which performance/recordings are you most proud of?
The Lambert & Dekker Album ‘We share phenomena‘, and I am currently working on new recordings. It feels like there is a new deepness to it…
Which particular works do you think you play best?
I only play my own music… but I used to be an alright Jazz Pianist, and played a lot of Standards on Sessions when I was living in Amsterdam. Playing this music can lead to some kind of freedom, that you wouldn’t have anywhere else in music, or it can be just very boring. Still I sometimes miss those days…
How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?
For my live performances, I pick my own tunes that provide a certain flexibility, since I improvise within the form or with the form of my tunes.
Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?
I really enjoy playing in churches and work with the reverb of the room. I have to react to the room sound and play my tunes differently. I enjoy these kind of challenges, it keeps the performance fresh.
What is your most memorable concert experience?
Playing at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.
As a musician, what is your definition of success?
Being able to do what you like to do, without compromises…
What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?
Hard to define this objectively, since every musician has a different way to work with music. To me writing music really helped me to find my own style in music, but also the flexibility on my instrument feels very important.
Where would you like to be in 10 years’ time?
Hopefully still writing and performing my music. I don’t really need much more in life.
What do you enjoy doing most?
Eating Weißwurst (a very nice Bavarian speciality). Very rarely I manage to do nothing. If this happens I enjoy it very much!
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Lambert: short biography
Mystery surrounds this German neo-classical pianist who wears a Sardinian, handmade leather mask — complete with antlers — to disguise his identity. His somber, thoughtful Chopin-esque miniatures released under the Lambert name were initially issued in 2014 on Berlin’s independent Staatsakt label, before Universal’s Mercury KX imprint added him to a roster of like-minded contemporaries in 2017, which included Ólafur Arnalds and Sebastian Plano.
He achieved a soft, dampened sound by introducing felt material to the inside of his piano, his earliest releases showcasing his delicate and hypnotic playing style in a solo context. However, as the decade wore on, Lambert’s recordings became increasingly collaborative, leading to a 2020 album — False — which featured a different guest artist on each of the 14 tracks.
Born Paul Tony Lambert in 1983 in Northern Germany, he moved to Berlin in his early twenties. He spent years studying jazz piano, and even drummed in garage rock acts before eschewing both of those genres to focus on developing a minimalist, modern classical repertoire.
Initially he reworked the material of indie acts in this style at their request, Anglo-American duo Rue Royale being the first to approach him in 2013, resulting in a reinterpretation of their single “Set Out to Discover.” Similar work for Me and My Drummer and Bonaparte led to the release of Lambert’s self-titled Staatsakt debut in 2014 as well as soundtrack compositions for Sonja Heiss’ comedy film Hedi Schneider Is Stuck. Some of that material appeared on September 2015’s Stay in the Dark, a record fittingly penned and recorded in its entirety at night.
This was also the first point at which Lambert began subtle experimentation with production techniques, such as with the backwards piano notes that graced the track “Noise.”
His 2016 output was relatively low-profile and began with April’s Lost Tapes, his final record on Staatsakt. Initially a limited-edition release that made no reference to the track titles, it was marketed as an EP, even though it contained 17 relatively short pieces. Excess followed in October on the Belgian tape label Dauw, a session that was reputedly improvised and recorded during a period of heavy drinking.
Altogether more salable was 2017’s Sweet Apocalypse, Lambert’s debut for Mercury KX, a record that revealed increased use of drums, strings, and brass. The following years We Share Phenomena was jointly billed with Brookln Dekker of Rue Royale, whose vocals featured prominently on the standard edition, while an additional version was simultaneously released in instrumental form. Two solo EPs — Alone and Alone II — appeared on either side of September 2019’s True and its accompanying Tom Oxenham-directed mockumentary Becoming Lambert. In 2020, Lambert issued False, his most eclectic and varied work, featuring 14 different artists who were newly signed to Mercury KX.