"I Thought I Knew" is Zach Sprowls' second studio release under his own name, following "All Beginnings are Hard." It shows the same maturity and restraint of his debut, fitting comfortably in the vein of expressive neoclassical pianist-composers of our time, such as Max Richter, Hania Rani, and Ólafur Arnalds. Like theirs, Zach's is a cinematic and natural voice shaped by life and place.
Moved by the tragic death of a beloved community member, Zach took to the piano to set down this piece as an artifact of grief. For him, a witness to life's fragility, the melody surfaced like bedrock hours after the loss. In the coming days, he built a song of honesty and renewed hope on top of that foundation. In the final work, you can almost hear a statement–that the cost of meaning is fragility, that the beauty of life is in our delicate present, not our imagined future.
To the core piano track–a Baldwin upright in Zach's family room–members of the U.S. Army Strings recorded Zach's string arrangement at Cue Recording Studio in Falls Church, VA. The collaboration is apt, augmenting the skill of each musician with the indivisible beauty of a masterful composition.
Those who know Zach understand that these works are as steady as he is. These two releases are undoubtedly the first of many in his promising career.
