Mats Gustafsson - Piano Mating (2016)

They sound like two holes puncturing the fabric of reality - holes that disobey time and space; black holes then, where you can poke your head through and see what is really going on behind the curtain.

The two side-long pieces of Piano Mating by Mats Gustafsson are incredibly pure, simple-sounding and slowly-ascending drones that feel convincingly like conveyor belts for the soul.

Is this spiritual music for heathens? It happened because we asked Mats to compose an album or us using an instrument he'd never recorded with before. He came back with one of the most bizarre instruments ever - the Dubreq Pianomate. A deliciously odd device from the manufacturers of that Stylophone that turned your nan's living room piano into, well, a giant Stylophone!

Mats doesn't hook his up to a piano though. Instead he manipulates the machine on its own to wring out these strange, expressive sonic prayers.