For Etienne de Villiers, finding music, albeit quite late in life, helped him process one of life’s greatest difficulties. At the age of 39, he decided to start learning to play the piano. A few years later, his wife of 17 years committed suicide after a long struggle with mental health.
“As a way to cope with my grief, I turned to the piano and started composing for the first time,” says de Villiers. “These compositions, although born from grief, are not songs of grief,” he continues.
His debut album, Inversion, is the result of this therapeutic processing through the expression of music. Composed in a graceful neoclassical style, de Villiers searches for beauty in his melodies, and he finds it quite easily.
Unfettered and uncomplicated, the best thing about this seven-track offering is its honesty. Plain and candid, Etienne de Villiers does not try to be anything more than himself. His compositions are perhaps a bit novice to the more trained ear, but their simplicity is also what makes them beautiful.
At its most essential, Inversion is nothing more than a man pouring himself into an instrument. Free of ego and lavish production, this is music for music’s sake.
