Mercury KX celebrated their 4th Birthday this year, and gifted Qobuz with four exclusive tracks from their artists performing at the SXSW festival, featuring Sebastian Plano, Sophie Hutchings, Lambert and Luke Howard.

Founded in 2017, Mercury KX (MKX) is a beautiful label, hosting a whole generation of unique musicians who have been called "neo-classical" or "post-classical". Often these are classically trained virtuosos who have decided to turn their hand to composing in the field of minimalist music, or electronic music - ambient preferably - or even pop. This is a label without borders, hosting artists from Germany, Argentina, Australia, Iceland, England and elsewhere, in which we meet Ólafur Arnalds, Anoushka Shankar, Jean-Michel Blais and Isobel Waller-Bridge.

Ólafur Arnalds, JFDR - Back To The Sky (Sunrise Session)

OlafurArnaldsVEVO

Often instrumental, MKX's music invites us to travel: it evokes images and landscapes. And its artists seem to be in constant conversation with the world around them and nature, as perfectly illustrated by the tracks here by MKX x SXSW, four previously unreleased tracks livestreamed during the (virtual) 2021 edition of the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. This EP features Argentine pianist and cellist Sebastian Plano (Purples), the Australian pianist Sophie Hutchings (Surrender to the Deepest Blue), the masked German pianist Lambert (Niort) and Australian pianist Luke Howard (Passion / Sleep).

Purples | Sebastian Plano at SXSW Online 2021

SXSW

A certain form of melancholy mixed with cinematic sensations binds these spartan pieces together. All in all, the album is a beautiful snapshot of the planet Mercury KX. © Max Dembo/Qobuz

Listen to MKX x SXSW exclusively in Hi-Res now on Qobuz!

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