Often compared to Grammy-award winning artist Enya, Phillip's music embodies a new sound for a more complex music listening audience. Combining multi-layered vocals, rich instrumentation, and modern choral motifs, his music appeals to a wide variety of listeners, and has been heard the world over.
All vocals and instruments heard in the songs are performed by Phillip himself. The use of a complex system of texturing prevents any dullness of sound, and enables multiple melodies to be produced simultaneously. Phillip mixes and produces his own work, and enjoys the amount of control he has over the final product of sound.
Phillip Hilliard Presswood was born November 5, 1980 into a joint American-Irish family. The youngest of three children, it was clear early on that Phillip had leanings toward music and instrumentation. Even before he learned to talk, he would communicate by reproducing the sounds of objects or people. By age four he was playing piano, and had composed his first orchestral work before entering his teens.
After being classically trained as a pianist and graduating highschool at 16, Phillip devoted considerable amounts of time to researching and learning various sound synthesis methods, including MIDI, sampling, and hard disk recording. Starting off in a digital-only format, Phillip quickly outgrew his first computer setups and was able to expand both his knowledge and his equipment as his abilities to manipulate and produce layered music advanced.
After studying music and language in the American capital of Washington, D.C. (Phillip speaks six languages), Phillip was fortunate to engage in several soundtrack projects in the capital area, as well as further afield in New York and Los Angeles. It was felt that his music lent itself easily to visual interpretation, and this initial soundtrack work eventually led to a demonstration album, "Call From the West" in 2003.
Public demand for certain tracks from this album (including 'Red Love') encouraged Phillip to take his solo career even further, and in 2005 released his first nationally-sold album, "The Secret of the Dawn." This record performed amazingly well - even with limited marketing and promotion album sales were extremely encouraging. The two singles from that album, the title track and 'Another Life' were featured in radio play in all the major city centers in the United States. In late 2005 Phillip formed Middlestar Music, an independent record label which Phillip now releases under.
Demand has grown, and far outpaced Phillip's ability to compose and record his music - to such an extent that he has gone into practical seclusion in order to finish what is his newest release due in November 2007, "SOLEA." This new album features even more pop-style rhythms and layered vocals, but never drifts too far away from the mystical, ethereal sound which has won the heart of nearly every individual who has heard his unique sound.
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