Originally published on Cleveland Classical.
———
At one point during our recent conversation on Zoom, pianist/composer and Cleveland native Rob Kovacs gestured behind him to a bookshelf holding what he estimated to be 350-400 old video game cartridges. He laughed. “I’ve been collecting for about fifteen years, and I just keep going.”
His point was that if you add up all of those games, there’s a bounty of music that very few people have heard. “A lot of it’s great,” he said. “And when you hear it on a real, acoustic instrument, played in a fairly virtuosic way, I think it helps to make more people interested, and certainly helps them view it in a different light.”
That’s exactly what Kovacs aims to achieve when he brings this music into a classical context in two free, live-streamed concerts early this year: first on the Local 4 Music Fund’s Tuning In series on Thursday, January 21 at 7:00 pm, then on the Maltz Performing Arts Center’s Silver Hall Series on Sunday, March 7 at 3:00 pm.
…
Speaking of his own original works in the realm of indie rock, Kovacs’ debut solo album Let Go is out on February 12.
As he told American Songwriter in an interview, Let Go tells the story of one intense relationship, in chronological order. “The songs are about love, longing, loss, desire, confusion, acceptance, pain, the struggle to let go — all that fun stuff.”
For now, he’s putting in the time to finish up a process that will have lasted over a decade. “Trying to release an album is a ton of work,” he said. “Not only the making of it, but now the promotion part of it. It’s been a lot.” From the sound of the first three singles — simultaneously catchy and emotionally compelling, and available on Bandcamp and other streaming outlets — it’s been worth the wait.
———
Read the full article at Cleveland Classical.