CALM PIECES

Photo by David Linuesa

About

Valencia-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Rafa Ramos Sania, the man behind Calm Pieces, has developed a unique practice which combines his ability to perform double bass and piano with electronics and sound design. His work has appeared on labels including Archives, Lost Tribe Sound, Cuneiform Records and Whitelabrecs while his wider output includes music for audiovisual work and the performing arts, contemporary classical compositions and a separate project focused on short-form instrumental pieces. His musical background is equally broad, beginning with electric bass in a rock trio before moving through guitar, music technology, double bass and piano, with influences ranging from contemporary classical composition to Ambient, drone and minimalist electronic music.


Suburbia, Still (Album, Whitelabrecs 2026)



His second album as Calm Pieces, Suburbia, Still, developed gradually over the course of around a year, expanding and reworking a number of shorter pieces into a more cohesive collection. Piano, double bass, cello, classical guitar and Fender Precision Bass sit alongside electronic textures and carefully processed sounds, with the album recorded and produced using a combination of digital tools and analogue equipment. An old cassette recorder and heavily worn 1990s tape were also brought into the process, helping establish the delicate but slightly weathered sonic character that runs throughout the record. In the mixing stage, the aim was to find a unified sound across the pieces; Rafa described it as "something delicate with a hint of grit, positioned between the analogue and the digital".

The album's starting points are varied, moving freely between musical ideas, personal impressions, cinema and literature. Influences are wide - opening track ‘Deckard’ takes inspiration from Blade Runner, while ‘Egg’, ‘Milk’ and ‘Honey’ emerged after seeing Turkish director Semih Kaplanoğlu's The Trilogy of Yusuf. ‘Suburban Tram’ and ‘Dodes'ka-den’ draw from Akira Kurosawa's 1970 film, while ‘Hanging Threads’ pays homage to a short story by Haruki Murakami. Elsewhere, pieces have emerged simply from a particular sound, chord or melodic idea, with the creative process allowed to determine where each composition ultimately leads.

There is no predetermined concept behind Suburbia, Still. Instead, its character revealed itself gradually through the process of making it, creating an album that moves between intimate acoustic playing and spacious electronic textures without settling into a single stylistic language. The title suggests a particular kind of quiet observation - familiar surroundings viewed in a moment of stillness. The word ‘still’ might also suggest that not everything has changed; as if the listener is returning to a place they haven't visited for decades, surveying the area for familiar details and traces of the past, slowly unlocking old memories. That sense of suspended time runs through the record, unified within the artwork concept by nkl, across the four panels of the CD sleeve.
The album's starting points are varied, moving freely between musical ideas, personal impressions, cinema and literature. Influences are wide - opening track ‘Deckard’ takes inspiration from Blade Runner, while ‘Egg’, ‘Milk’ and ‘Honey’ emerged after seeing Turkish director Semih Kaplanoğlu's The Trilogy of Yusuf. ‘Suburban Tram’ and ‘Dodes'ka-den’ draw from Akira Kurosawa's 1970 film, while ‘Hanging Threads’ pays homage to a short story by Haruki Murakami. Elsewhere, pieces have emerged simply from a particular sound, chord or melodic idea, with the creative process allowed to determine where each composition ultimately leads.
There is no predetermined concept behind Suburbia, Still. Instead, its character revealed itself gradually through the process of making it, creating an album that moves between intimate acoustic playing and spacious electronic textures without settling into a single stylistic language. The title suggests a particular kind of quiet observation - familiar surroundings viewed in a moment of stillness. The word ‘still’ might also suggest that not everything has changed; as if the listener is returning to a place they haven't visited for decades, surveying the area for familiar details and traces of the past, slowly unlocking old memories. That sense of suspended time runs through the record, unified within the artwork concept by nkl, across the four panels of the CD sleeve.
The album's starting points are varied, moving freely between musical ideas, personal impressions, cinema and literature. Influences are wide - opening track ‘Deckard’ takes inspiration from Blade Runner, while ‘Egg’, ‘Milk’ and ‘Honey’ emerged after seeing Turkish director Semih Kaplanoğlu's The Trilogy of Yusuf. ‘Suburban Tram’ and ‘Dodes'ka-den’ draw from Akira Kurosawa's 1970 film, while ‘Hanging Threads’ pays homage to a short story by Haruki Murakami. Elsewhere, pieces have emerged simply from a particular sound, chord or melodic idea, with the creative process allowed to determine where each composition ultimately leads.
There is no predetermined concept behind Suburbia, Still. Instead, its character revealed itself gradually through the process of making it, creating an album that moves between intimate acoustic playing and spacious electronic textures without settling into a single stylistic language. The title suggests a particular kind of quiet observation - familiar surroundings viewed in a moment of stillness. The word ‘still’ might also suggest that not everything has changed; as if the listener is returning to a place they haven't visited for decades, surveying the area for familiar details and traces of the past, slowly unlocking old memories. That sense of suspended time runs through the record, unified within the artwork concept by nkl, across the four panels of the CD sleeve.
The album's starting points are varied, moving freely between musical ideas, personal impressions, cinema and literature. Influences are wide - opening track ‘Deckard’ takes inspiration from Blade Runner, while ‘Egg’, ‘Milk’ and ‘Honey’ emerged after seeing Turkish director Semih Kaplanoğlu's The Trilogy of Yusuf. ‘Suburban Tram’ and ‘Dodes'ka-den’ draw from Akira Kurosawa's 1970 film, while ‘Hanging Threads’ pays homage to a short story by Haruki Murakami. Elsewhere, pieces have emerged simply from a particular sound, chord or melodic idea, with the creative process allowed to determine where each composition ultimately leads.
There is no predetermined concept behind Suburbia, Still. Instead, its character revealed itself gradually through the process of making it, creating an album that moves between intimate acoustic playing and spacious electronic textures without settling into a single stylistic language. The title suggests a particular kind of quiet observation - familiar surroundings viewed in a moment of stillness. The word ‘still’ might also suggest that not everything has changed; as if the listener is returning to a place they haven't visited for decades, surveying the area for familiar details and traces of the past, slowly unlocking old memories. That sense of suspended time runs through the record, unified within the artwork concept by nkl, across the four panels of the CD sleeve.
The album's starting points are varied, moving freely between musical ideas, personal impressions, cinema and literature. Influences are wide - opening track ‘Deckard’ takes inspiration from Blade Runner, while ‘Egg’, ‘Milk’ and ‘Honey’ emerged after seeing Turkish director Semih Kaplanoğlu's The Trilogy of Yusuf. ‘Suburban Tram’ and ‘Dodes'ka-den’ draw from Akira Kurosawa's 1970 film, while ‘Hanging Threads’ pays homage to a short story by Haruki Murakami. Elsewhere, pieces have emerged simply from a particular sound, chord or melodic idea, with the creative process allowed to determine where each composition ultimately leads.

There is no predetermined concept behind Suburbia, Still. Instead, its character revealed itself gradually through the process of making it, creating an album that moves between intimate acoustic playing and spacious electronic textures without settling into a single stylistic language. The title suggests a particular kind of quiet observation - familiar surroundings viewed in a moment of stillness. The word ‘still’ might also suggest that not everything has changed; as if the listener is returning to a place they haven't visited for decades, surveying the area for familiar details and traces of the past, slowly unlocking old memories. That sense of suspended time runs through the record, unified within the artwork concept by nkl, across the four panels of the CD sleeve.  

Written and produced by Rafa Ramos Sania
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Artwork by Nkl
Art and design by Andrew Heath


Singles (Album, Whitelabrecs 2025)


Singles' is Calm Pieces' debut album, characterised by a serene and introspective sound, crafted through a blend of modern and traditional techniques. Rafa recorded acoustic instruments such as double bass, cello, classical guitar, and acoustic slide guitar, blending them with a digital sound palette into dynamic and textural cinematic soundscapes. Each track conveys a sense of calm and expressiveness, with melodies emerging naturally from improvisation. The album marks Rafa’s first solo physical release on a label, and Whitelabrecs is honored to share this evocative, minimalist journey with the world.


Written and produced by Calm Pieces
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Cover artwork by David Linuesa
Art and design by Andrew Heath
Calm Pieces is a project by Rafa Ramos Sania.
Some of the sounds were created together with Edu Comelles



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