Kelly Moran - WXAXRXP Session (EP)

Warp’s 30th birthday celebrations could have been a nostalgia lap, yet the WXAXRXP Series found the label doing what it always has, spotlighting artists who twist familiar sounds into strange new light. Kelly Moran’s WXAXRXP Session, released on 15 November 2019, lands right in that pocket. Recorded for the WXAXRXP x NTS broadcast in June that year, it takes the prepared piano language she shaped so vividly on Ultraviolet and shows how alive it is in a live room. The microphones catch the scrape of metal on string, the rush of overtones, the soft thud of felt and wood, and it all blooms in a way that makes you lean in.

Moran has been a force for a while, but this short, concentrated set makes a clear case for her as one of Warp’s most distinctive voices. She came up through conservatory rigour, then opened the lid and started placing screws and bolts to turn the piano into a tuned percussion orchestra. The result is a harmonic palette that feels both ancient and futuristic, and in this session you can hear her ride that tension in real time. Figures flicker and mutate, arpeggios lock into place like clockwork, then tilt into shimmering dissonance. It is the thrill of hearing a compositional mind trust her hands.

What strikes first is the intimacy. On studio records Moran often blends prepared piano with electronics and the precise control of a Yamaha Disklavier, but here the air in the room does some of the work, letting harmonics smear and collide. You get moments where the bass strings growl and the top end rings like gamelan, and the whole instrument seems to breathe. It is not austere. There is heat in the performance, a sense that she is pushing the preparations right to their edge so the harmonics hang in the balance. When a figure blooms into a chord that sounds like glass turning liquid, it feels earned.

Part of the joy is hearing how she frames rhythm. The prepared notes hit like tuned toms, so patterns can feel drum‑like even while the harmony keeps shifting. You get that Warp sweet spot where repetition builds a trance, then a new colour slips in and the trance resets. It is easy to imagine how this turned heads during the WXAXRXP broadcast, tucked among sets from label heavyweights and historic Peel Session reissues by Aphex Twin, Autechre, LFO and Seefeel. Moran is clearly in conversation with that legacy, yet she is off on her own path.

If you live with piano music, the vinyl cut is a bit of a revelation. The way the lower register carries, the rub of metal against string, the little room noises you only catch when the stylus drops in, it all rewards a quiet listen. As a piece of Kelly Moran vinyl to sit next to Ultraviolet or her later releases, this one earns its space. It is also a tidy entry point for anyone curious but not ready to commit to a full album, a snapshot that shows the craft and the pulse in one go. I have played it for people who thought prepared piano would be academic, and watched them go still, then smile.

There is a cultural story here too. Warp’s WXAXRXP series wasn’t only a birthday, it was a reminder that the label’s future is rooted in curiosity. Moran had already drawn attention from outlets like Pitchfork and The Guardian off the back of Ultraviolet, and she toured with Oneohtrix Point Never’s MYRIAD show, but a live session pressed up like this turns a radio moment into an artefact you can keep. It is the sort of record you stumble across in a Melbourne record store, take home on a hunch, and then end up recommending to friends who usually chase ambient or modern classical. That is the magic of small, well‑made documents.

For crate diggers, the WXAXRXP Session vinyl is worth seeking out before it vanishes into collector chat. If you like to buy Kelly Moran records online, you will find copies floating around alongside other Kelly Moran albums on vinyl, and it slips neatly into any shelf that prizes adventurous composition. It is also a gem for anyone in vinyl records Australia circles, the kind of title a shop staffer pulls from behind the counter with a grin.

Short, deep, and beautifully recorded, Kelly Moran’s WXAXRXP Session takes a single idea, the piano as an orchestra of resonances, and trusts it. No filler, no fuss, just a musician with a rare ear finding new colours inside an old box. If you needed a reason to put Kelly Moran vinyl on the turntable tonight, this is it.