Midnight Waves,” a highlight of Joey Alexander’s sixth album, Origin, describes the nocturnal ocean off Bali, where the teenaged pianist and his parents returned home to sit out part of the pandemic. The family had lived on the island until 2011 when the eight-year-old son’s prodigious keyboard talents had necessitated a move to the national capital of Jakarta—and, two-and-a-half years after that, to New York.
That latter move had kicked off a whirlwind six years of five albums, three Grammy nominations, international tours, and a deluge of media attention. But COVID brought all of that to a screeching halt. The son and his parents got off the career treadmill, got out of New York, and went back to Indonesia to decompress and decide on their next moves. Alexander was able to go to the beach, watch the moon add its icing to the incoming waves, and focus on what he most wanted from his music.
“We all need that time frame when we can rest and rejuvenate,” he says. “I needed to reflect on these past years. Sometimes we pass by the big moments in our lives and the small moments too, because we get sidetracked by all the busyness. Sometimes I forget to pause and remember what has happened. It was a tough time for all of us, so we escaped to Bali for five months to clear our minds and make a fresh start.”
By “all of us,” he’s referring to himself and his parents, Denny and Fara Sila, who have lived with Alexander since his birth in 2003 through his moves to Jakarta and then New York to his 19th birthday in June at the family’s newish apartment in Baltimore. His father is still Alexander’s closest musical adviser, and his mother still acts as de facto road manager. During our interview in the
