Loner

Loner，又名Geoff Smith，来自英国伦敦的低调艺人，《Western Sci-Fi》是Loner的第二张完整专辑，之前他已经发布了一张同名专辑和两张EP。初听《Western Sci-Fi》，给人的第一感觉是细腻，敏感，让人情不自禁陷入沉思的感觉；神秘，美妙，又有那么一些催眠的效果；整张专辑都以钢琴和吉他为主基调，氛围和电子辅助，有一点点黑，但又显得如此的纯真；戏剧般的效果，lo-fi的模糊，显得一丝纠结；我个人还比较喜欢这种感觉的音乐，能很好的安定我的情绪...
Loner is the sense of space you get surfing the web; the sense of space you feel in a crowded train full of people talking on phones you don’t know. “The mystery is gone in a crazy mixed up world.”
Loner, AKA Geoff Smith, first started playing the piano aged 8 and his playing evolved under the tutelage of Louis Vause (Transcopic Records), the renowned New Orleans Blues pianist.
A stint in the band De Capo, developed into more serious playing, and at the age of 19 Geoff struck a publishing deal for his exceptional songwriting talents. From there a deal with Just Music and the road to Loner lay ahead.
Geoff’s earliest musical influences include Prince, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen and Johnny Cash - solitary artists who reflect their own stories through lyrical story telling. These artists provide the backdrop for Loner’s own brand of watching life pass by. “Working in the pub is really settling for me”, says Geoff. “It’s the constant stream of new faces, stories and the sense of life moving on around me-and I’m in the middle standing still, watching and staying in one place”.
Piano understandably makes up the backbone of his work as Loner. Yet electronic interference, fuzzy glitches, Binatone samples and occasionally some choice beats and acoustic guitar underpin the organic qualities of piano. In his earlier days Loner would work only in solitude, earning him the hermitic title.
However collaborations with a heap of respected musicians and producers, both live and in the studio show that Geoff is just as adept in partnership. Recent collaborations include various projects with Tim Simenon, the hip hop/dance pioneer behind Bomb The Bass – playing keyboards on the new Bomb The Bass album to be released later this year, co-producing debut album I.D. for the Icelandic artist Biggi and playing keyboards on the Bomb the Bass remix for Primal Scream’s 'Sometimes I Feel So Lonely'. Loner is also a long time collaborator with Dot Allison, writing material including her new single 'Thief of Me' (Cooking Vinyl) and plays live keyboards for The Rakes.
This diversity and accomplished musicianship has earned Loner massive plays across a diversity of radio shows from John Kennedy on XFM right through to Classic FM. He even featured in the penultimate episode of Sex And The City with his track French Movie.
- The eponymously-titled album out now on Just Music.
- “Western Sci-Fi”, Loner’s second album will be released on Just Music in 2009.