''At My Piano'' is the 11th and final studio album by American musician

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop compositio ...

, released on November 19, 2021 through

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

. It consists of instrumental re-recordings of songs from Wilson's back catalogue.

Background and composition

"At My Piano" features Brian Wilson performing solo piano renditions of songs he had written in the past. Wilson commented in an interview that the album concept "wasn’t my idea. The record company eccabrought the idea to us and it seemed interesting. So we tried it out. It is weird without vocals. ..The label had a list of their choices

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then I had mine and me and Darian ahanajajust sort of picked what was best." With the exception of "Love and Mercy", all of the songs on the album were originally recorded by the Beach Boys. Half of the songs included dates from 1966 and earlier. The album includes a medley called "Sketches of Smile", which includes the songs " Our Prayer", "

Heroes and Villains "Heroes and Villains" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1967 album ''Smiley Smile'' and their unfinished ''Smile (The Beach Boys album), Smile'' project. Written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, Wilson envisioned ...

", " Wonderful", and " Surf's Up", all from the ''

Smile A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses d ...

'' project. For the medley, Sahanaja had Wilson play sections from ''Smile'' that were in C# and arranged it from there.

Reception

Austin Saalman on ''Under the Radar'' wrote that it was a "genuinely enchanting release". Bill Milkowski in ''

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'' wrote: "To hear ilson's songsrendered in such succinct and poignant fashion by the composer himself on solo piano is, as one friend and die-hard Wilson fan put it, 'a benediction'". Fred Thomas stated in

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that while "the mellow, elevator music style of these versions doesn't sound any more significantly connected to Wilson… it's pleasant to hear these songs in a new form, and to realize Wilson's depths as an artist when he presents himself at his most minimal, and it's still preternaturally beautiful". In a more mixed review, Lee Zimmerman wrote in ''American Songwriter'' that "even diehards would be justified in viewing t My Pianoas little more than a novelty". Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote in a ''

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'' review that he believed Wilson did not "invest his playing with much personality, so these smooth sounds are about as memorable as a piano twinkling away in the background of a department store".

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 2021 albums Brian Wilson albums Albums produced by Brian Wilson 2020s instrumental albums Re-recorded albums