Englishman Greg Haines is the author of a half-an-hour-long composition Komarovo — an esoteric acoustic ambient piece that was conceived under the influence of the sacral music of Arvo Pärt and performed on a grand piano and a church organ. It’s not exactly clear what’s the connection between this composition and the summer community near the Gulf of Finland, where Dmitry Shostakovich used to compose, and where the eccentric music genius Oleg Karavajchuk lived, but for a certainty such connection exists.

Greg Haines, who began studying cello and piano at an early age, is awalking encyclopedia of music. At the beginning of his career, his music was under obvious influence from the academic minimalist composers such as Steve Reich, Philipp Glass and Gavin Bryars. His contemporary compositions include more and more musical traces from all around the world. The composer’s fourth album, Where We Were, which came out in 2013 on a well-known German label Denovali, is full of genetic traces of the African music’s polyrhythmy, virtuoso use of space and echoes, reminiscent of such dub music classics as King Tubby and Lee Scratch Perry, coloratura synthesised textures of Tangerine Dream, and hypnotic rhythms of the Basic Channel techno label. In Greg’s latest compositions, the melodies performed on traditional acoustic instruments, such as grand piano, strings, vibraphone and percussion, are interlaced with a slowly moving massif of electronic sounds, and it’s a separate pleasure to analyse this array of sounds, taking it apart into its separate components. His devotion to dub and old electronic music led Greg Haines to build an impressive collection of analog synthesisers, drum machines, tape delays, and tape recorders.

Greg Haines is a very versatile and active musician. In addition to his own creative work, he is a member of the improvisational art ensemble The Alvaret Ensemble; he alsocomposes music for the Dutch National Ballet and Royal Opera, records collaborative compositions from Peter Broderick from Efterklang, and from time to time goes on tours with his friend Nils Frahm. Haines’ concerts are more than an emotional session of diverse music — they are a fascinating one-man virtuoso performance for a grand piano and a set of analog electronic devices.