Gia Margaret announces her new album, Romantic Piano, out May 26th via Jagjaguwar (her debut for the label), along with the news, the artist has shared lead single, “Hinoki Wood.” The follow up to 2020’s Mia Gargaret. “Romantic Piano was written with a beginner’s mind,” Margaret says. “For this collection, I thought: ‘What if I could clear my head of all the things I have learned about the piano? What would those songs sound like?’”

“Hinoki Wood” doubles as Romantic Piano’s lead single and opening track, a brief and gentle submersion into Margaret’s music, accompanied by a gorgeous stop motion video featuring clay animation by Gaia Alari. Of “Hinoki Wood,” Margaret states: ‘Hinoki Wood’ feels like it was made with colors I haven’t used. (And I happened to be burning Hinoki incense when I recorded it.) Hinoki aroma is known to reduce stress, tiredness and stimulate the brain. In a way, I wanted these songs to do the same for myself/for the person listening.”

“I wanted to make music that was useful,” says Margaret, vastly understating the power of the record. Romantic Piano is curious, calming, patient and incredibly moving — but it doesn’t overstay its welcome for more than a second.

Originally pursuing a degree in composition, Margaret dropped out of music school halfway through. “I really didn’t want to play in an orchestra,” she said of her decision, “I really just wanted to write movie scores. Then, I started to focus more and more on being a songwriter. Romantic Piano scratched an old itch.” Romantic Piano does indeed touch on a rare feeling in art often only reserved for the cinema — a simultaneous wide-lens awe of existence and the post-language intimate inner monologue of being.

Gia Margaret
Romantic Piano
Tracklist
Jagjaguwar

1. Hinoki Wood
2. Ways of Seeing
3. Cicadas
4. Juno
5. A Stretch
6. City Song
7. Sitting at the Piano
8. Guitar Piece
9. La langue de l’amitié (feat. David Bazan)
10. 2017
11. April to April
12. Cinnamon
13. A Hidden Track (vinyl only)

Pre order Romantic Piano by Gia Margaret HERE