DEMIAN DORELLI (Nick Drake’s Pink Moon)

British folk singer-songwriter Nick Drake recorded three albums in his short life, Pink Moon was the last of these. This album was a return to a more elemental style for Nick Drake, recorded solo, without post-production and consciously avoiding the more elaborate sound of his previous album. The result is a unique collection of stripped down, haunted songs that are simultaneously dark and deep, but also light and mesmerizing.

Everything destined Demian Dorelli to discover Nick Drake. He was born in 1972, the same year that Pink Moon was released on Island Records. The album was recorded at the iconic Sound Techniques studio in Chelsea, London, a stone’s throw from Demian’s childhood home, where he learned to play an old upright piano. Later, while studying music in West London, Demian was introduced to the work of Nick Drake by his classmate and friend Alberto Fabris. After hearing the mysterious River Man from the album Five Leaves Left, Demian developed a fascination and passion for the music of Nick Drake that has stayed with him throughout his life. Demian currently lives and works in Cambridge, the city where Nick Drake attended university.

Demian Dorelli and Alberto Fabris spent a long time thinking about how to translate a perfect work of art like Pink Moon for piano without compromising it. In 2020, pianist Demian and producer Alberto, took up the challenge of recreating each of the eleven tracks in a simple and intimate piano solo format. Demian explores and pays tribute to Drake’s unique guitar playing, experimental tuning and poetic lyrics, transcribing melodies from one instrument to the other, allowing a delicate spectrum of colour to emerge from the black and white of the piano.

Nick Drake’s Pink Moon, A Journey on Piano was recorded and mixed at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios by the legendary Tim Oliver, whose career spans nearly four decades and includes renowned works by some of the greatest artists of our time (Robert Plant, Sinead O’Connor, New Order…).