ACKROYD, POPPY

Liminal, the fifth studio album by British contemporary classical composer and multi-instrumentalist Poppy Ackroyd, is a breathtakingly intimate, raw, and cathartic return to form. Released via One Little Independent Records, the album marks the first time since 2019's Feathers that Ackroyd strips her palette back down strictly to her two core instruments: the piano and the violin. Written in a hyper-focused three-month burst, the record is born from a period of intense personal chaos, including a cross-country relocation and the loss of her father, the celebrated sketch artist Norman Ackroyd.

Instead of burying her melodies in dense electronic production or falling into the trap of oversimplified "soporific" background music, Ackroyd embraces a philosophy of beautiful, deliberate messiness. Every single sound on the 8-track album originates from the physical bodies of the piano and violin. She heavily employs unorthodox tactile techniques: plucking strings directly with guitar picks, inserting e-bows inside the piano, tapping the instrument's frame with drumsticks, and strumming her violin solely with her fingers. By leaving her raw improvisations mostly intact, the album achieves a deeply human, "perfectly imperfect" texture