On Jan Lisiecki’s playing style – Everything Else (Music related) Forum

this pianist Jan Lisiecki popped up on my YouTube recommendations, and after listening to him, I was so struck by his playing style.
Struck not as in impressed per se, but really struck by its strangeness. I don’t mean that it’s bad, it has its charms, but it’s so strange and new that I’ve been listening to his renditions of Chopin, Beethoven etc over and over to put a word on this feeling I’m getting.

The word I ended up with is “irony”. His playing sounds ironic! Ironic as in there is a constant distanciation effect going on or a laugh being retained, from beginning to end. I was reminded of other artists like Virgil Abloh, the difference being that Abloh is openly ironic, while Lisiecki is so serious that the tongueincheek feeling is reinforced.

I checked the comment section on YouTube to see if anyone shares my impression, but it’s only full of compliments and praising. Is anybody seeing what I’m seeing here? I think I’m going crazy, being the only person who finds his playing ironic.