Peter Manning Robinson is a pianist who composes around his instrument. He finds a piano line or two that he likes and then populates the nearby space with other instruments, soundscape electronics and other effects. The results are unusual and eccentric, but Robinson does a fine job of building stories within his sounds.

Peter Manning Robinson Disturbances EP (Owl Walk Records)

Each piece has an arc, and the journey is often tension-laden. The world this EP inhabits is something of a carnival funhouse, with ideas returning in distorted forms. While the stories do move forward conventionally, there's plenty of intrigue on the periphery.
Manning's real accomplishment here is in the assembly of what he hangs on his piano. He doesn't overstep, and his warped reflections are more twisted variations on a theme than anything else.
These pieces sound like nothing I've heard before. Most who work with assemblage this complicated tend to overbuild. Robinson keeps his sound spare and lean. He keeps what he needs and jettisons the rest. Absolutely unsettling.

Jon Worley