After making his name leading the award-winning and spirited Neil Cowley Trio, pianist/ composer Neil has continued to push musical boundaries as a solo artist. His second album, Battery Life (out now) sees him combine minimalist acoustic piano with washes of electronica - a move that sees Neil link back to his earlier career as one half of dance/chill duo Fragile State and playing with such artists as Zero 7. 

Powering Battery Life are ideas around memory and archive, themes inspired by Neil's discovery of a small trinket chest left to him by his late mother.

Neil stops off at Coventry's Warwick Arts Centre on 26 April as part of his Battery Life tour. What's On recently caught up with him to find out more...

What led to the trio being disbanded? How/why did you decide to 'go solo’?
Nothing more sinister than deciding it was time for a change. I somehow felt that people needed a break from us and I’d also been running the internal admin of the band for 10 years at that point and it was starting to take its toll. I needed others external to the band to come in and take that responsibility away from me so that I could concentrate on the music making part. So when I signed with my current management, it felt like I had everything in place to take myself in a new direction. I hadn’t anticipated how hard it would be essentially starting from scratch again, but despite the pain and the anguish, the toil has been worth it. I recommend abject fear and a collision course with oblivion to really fire you up!

There's obviously parallels between the trio and your solo work - but what are the differences?
Well, though it may be extremely obvious to say, the main difference is the human interaction. Evan (Jenkins - drums) and Rex (Horan - bass) from the trio were the best support structure in the world. When we played together, we all felt utterly at home and able to dive in any direction at a moment's notice. That was the beauty of it. The solo work is much more personal and comes at a higher emotional price. You have to really look inwards and have a good root round. There are moments when you feel utterly alone and slightly insane. There is nowhere to hide and the release and acceptance of that music becomes much more critical. Of course if it goes well, the moment becomes all the sweeter. Someone just a few days ago said that whilst listening to my new album they felt like I was actually in the room with them. I can’t think of a nicer compliment or a better remit for making a solo record. 

Your pre-Trio work is quite computer-based/ electronic, while the Trio was acoustic-led. Would it be fair to say that your solo work is a balance of the two, a happy medium?
Yes that’s fair to say, in fact it’s pretty accurate! The piano is pretty much always my voice and represents the most human parts of the music I make. In the case of this album Battery Life it is a very conscious combination with the computer based elements representing the less human aspects of our lives. It does seem to be the way that I often cite the non piano elements of what I do as something I have to wrestle with. I make constant attempts to mould them into something beautiful. Maybe that’s my relationship with everything outside myself as a whole! 

I gather you have some nice vintage gear on the album - like a Yamaha CS-80 synth once owned by Genesis keyboard player, Tony Banks! 
The Yamaha CS-80 was indeed Tony Banks’. It pretty much sat in the corner of their studio since he purchased it in the late-1970’s/early 1980’s. A producer/engineer friend of mine got wind that Genesis were closing down their studio and selling off their equipment. He managed to place himself about third or fourth in the queue for paying a visit to the premises to peruse what was on offer. By complete coincidence that studio is (or rather was) situated in the village where I live. So I at least knew that transportation wasn’t going to be an issue! I went down with the idea of maybe picking up a keyboard or two and ended up spending my life savings! I was like a kid in a toy shop. 
Obviously, the Genesis connection is a nice touch, but it wasn’t the main incentive behind buying it. It was simply great vintage equipment. Though of course it makes for a nice story. 

They're not cheap those CS-80s
As you say, the CS-80’s aren’t cheap, though it was in a state of disrepair when I bought it, so I got it for a very good price, relatively speaking. 
Just recently I got an offer from a museum for the CS-80 for a very good price indeed. A price I should have accepted. But the trouble is I’ve fallen in love with it, so I turned it down. Clearly the CS-80 circuitry has entered my brain and I’ve lost all grip on reality. But, unfortunately for my wallet, playing it makes me happy.

When you play live, what's the set-up?
I’ve been working on this solo live set up for sometime now. I started off with a laptop computer on stage with me, replicating some of the rhythmic elements, but I just hated being lead by something computer based. Ironically I’ve been trying to replicate the energy of having another human on stage with me and the random inspiration element that comes with that scenario. I’ve paired it down now to essentially my four limbs, though there is a small box laying down the percussive elements. I’m now in charge of the arrangements as they occur and once again the piano is the master of all. Just how I like it. 

Does the set-list stick to the last two albums? Or do you dip back into the Trio's catalogue?
The set list is from the last two albums (Hall of Mirrors and Battery Life) - they pair together beautifully and both put the piano front and centre. There is a third album in this collection I feel, subject to me writing and recording it. Certainly those first two have a voice which is separate from the work I’ve done before and therefore it makes sense to make this show about those compositions. 

You've played with a fair few different people over the years, with your 'session' hat on - Adele, Emeli Sande etc. Played/ guested with anyone recently?
I’ve actually played with less people than you might think. Perhaps the fact that the ones I have worked with have tended to have made quite a splash gives the impression that I have. Either that’s a coincidence or I just have the magic touch!! I made a decision to concentrate on my own stuff about 15 or 20 years ago and since then I’ve let outside collaborations come to me rather than the other way round. 

Do you have any other plans for the coming months, outside of touring Battery Life?
I have a project coming up towards the end of the year which I’m pretty excited about. Less piano, more electronic. It’s a kind of retrospective on all my years dancing (literally in some cases) at the edge of electronic music. And beyond that I have something so new I can’t (or daren’t) even talk about it. But I’m convinced it’s wonderful!

Neil Cowley plays Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, on Wednesday 26 April