Charity Chan calls her piano style ‘non-invasive.’ In other words — no prepared piano. But the piano still sounds like a whole different beast when it’s played by Chan. This evening The Signal features music from her latest recording, Somewhere the Sea and Salt. Chan thinks the music on this recording is a kind of “aural map” of the techniques she uses to coax unexpected sounds from the piano. Here’s how she sees (or hears) it: “I was often fascinated by the minute details of and subtle characteristics of these unconventional sounds. So often, the magic of what enthralls a performer is hidden or inaccessible to the audience. This recording is a way of allowing those sounds to be heard.” If you haven’t heard of Charity Chan as a soloist but follow new music, you may be more familiar with a previous project she was involved in with the group Fenaison. How’s about this for a celebrity endorsement — from Fred Frith: “Listening to Fenaison reminds me why I enjoy improvisation. They make music that is passionate, mysterious, and full of contradictions….in other words, it’s alive! And well…”