Inside the Attic Where the Clock Stopped Ticking

Cape Town pianist Ralston Van Der Schyff turned a year of stillness into a chase nobody could see the end of, and called it A Game Of Cat And Mouse.

Think of a room that is now closed off to everyone. Dust has settled everywhere and there is just one cracked window through which light can make it into that room. There is something small, very quickly running around in the corner of that room. That's the world that Ralston Van Der Schyff created in his mind during those weird suspended months when there was nowhere for anyone to go anymore.

Van Der Schyff did not really do much writing with "A Game Of Cat And Mouse"; he mostly just listened to it being made by other people. Van Der Schyff sat down in his mini studio in Shanghai, a long way from where he grew up in Cape Town, and let the recorder run, barely making any changes to the sound as it came out. There was no second-guessing himself or any other attempts to create layers upon layers on top of the first sound. Van Der Schyff played the piano with faith that the first sound would be there when he finished playing and would not change.

The final result is somewhere between a fairy tale and an inside joke. The first few notes sound like they have a mischievous quality as they skitter around, knowing where they are going and you don’t know. After a few of the very mischievous notes have arrived and settled down on the page, the chase begins with quick fingers committing acts of mischief inspired by their natural curiosity. This is the type of playfulness earned rather than just for looks or out of creativity; it’s playful in a way that only becomes apparent after everything else is quiet around you.

“Chasing elusive secrets through a musical maze,” says Van Der Schyff, and that one statement is worth any biography. His back catalogue dates from 2012’s Red Lanterns up to works like Tempest and The Rabbit Hole, but they all deal with the same things: memories, mysteries and transformations in the form of solo piano music. No lyrics are needed.

With Ralston World, his large creative project that merges music, art, fashion and ritual, this feeling continues to grow outwards from him. However, this single can still stand alone as its own little universe; two creatures, one attic; a long span of absence with finally somewhere to run.