James Heather - Invisible Forces (LP) - Violet Vinyl

James Heather’s Invisible Forces arrived in April 2022 on Ahead Of Our Time, the label revived by Coldcut that sits under the Ninja Tune banner, and it feels like a quiet milestone for modern piano records. Heather is a British composer who came up through Ninja Tune’s world, then built a following with the intimate, unhurried storytelling of his 2017 debut. This second album tightens the focus. The pieces feel bolder and more rhythmic, yet still draw you in close, as if you’re sitting beside the piano bench while the hammers breathe.

Heather writes from improvisation and pares back later, but he resists the glossy edits that smooth out life’s edges. You can hear the weight of fingers, the thud of felt, the tiny rustle of pedal work. It’s recorded with a close, honest microphone approach that catches air as much as notes, which suits the album’s theme. Invisible Forces is about the unseen currents that push us around, from gravity to group emotion to the way memory tugs at the body. You don’t need liner notes to pick that up. The title track says plenty on its own, moving from a sparse, questioning figure into a rolling pulse that never quite settles. It doesn’t chase drama. It lets tension grow from dynamics and touch, and the release lands like a held breath eased out.

What sets Heather apart from so many neo classical peers is his sense of momentum. He loves a rubato tumble, but there’s a spine to it. Several pieces start like diary entries and bloom into something with real architecture. Tempos flex, melodies loop back with slight shifts, and the left hand keeps a heartbeat even when the right goes wandering. It’s not flashy. It feels lived in, like the way you find your stride on a long walk and notice the world sharpen around you.

There’s a deeper backstory that listeners often bring to his music. Heather survived a serious motorbike accident years ago and spent a long period recovering, which reshaped his patience and outlook. You hear that resolve across Invisible Forces. When a phrase returns, it carries memory with it. When a piece surges, it feels earned. He avoids clutter, trusting the piano to do the talking. That restraint gives the record replay value. On first pass you might catch the big swells. By the third, the small hesitations and ghosted notes stick in the mind.

The sequencing is thoughtful. Early tracks draw the ear to tone and space, then the middle stretch leans into rhythm and contrast, before the closing pieces soften the light. The tuning has a human wobble that suits the close miking, and the felted timbre keeps things warm rather than austere. You can imagine this ringing out in a church like London’s Union Chapel, but it also works at 1 a.m. with the lights down low. That dual purpose is rare. It’s meditative without drifting into background music, and emotionally open without tipping into syrup.

Fans of Nils Frahm or Ólafur Arnalds will find a familiar hush here, but Heather isn’t trying on anyone’s suit. He likes sturdy motifs and lets them breathe; he doesn’t stack strings or electronics on top just to swell a climax. When other instruments do appear in his catalogue, they arrive sparingly. Invisible Forces sticks to piano and makes the most of it, which turns the record into a quiet test of composition. It passes. The melodies lodge, and the pacing rewards a full side in one sitting.

If you’re crate digging, Invisible Forces vinyl is the way to live with this album. The close-miked details and dynamic swells come through beautifully on a decent setup, and it sits nicely alongside other James Heather albums on vinyl for those building a corner of the shelf for contemplative modern classical. We’ve had a few regulars ask where to buy James Heather records online in Australia, and the answer is simple enough. Most Melbourne record store stalwarts keep his titles in stock, and plenty of shops that specialise in vinyl records Australia wide can order it in if they’ve sold through. The album also pops up in the used bins now and then, usually well loved but still quiet on the needle.

James Heather vinyl tends to find its people slowly, through word of mouth and late-night plays, and Invisible Forces feels like the one that will keep doing the rounds for years. It’s thoughtful, quietly ambitious, and full of small decisions that add up to a deep listen. Put it on, let the room fall still, and you’ll feel those currents he’s talking about, tugging at the edges of your day.