O'Sullivan, Daniel

Electric Māyā: Dream Flotsam And Astral Hinterlands

Vhf

LP $17.50

11/27/2020 783881015010

VHF 150

MP3 $9.90

10/23/2020 783881015010

VHF 150

FLAC $11.99

10/23/2020 783881015010

VHF 150

First in a series of three records of library music miniatures from composer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel O’Sullivan (Æthenor, Ulver, This is Not This Heat, etc). For heads, the term “library music” in 2020 might evoke dodgy Italian gray market LPs and crate diggers hunting for “funky breaks”—but London’s venerable KPM Music is working with groundbreakers like O’Sullivan to open up new avenues for composers to experiment. Electric Māyā includes eighteen gems, beautifully arranged and recorded specifically for the challenge of the short form. These are fully realized tunes, not just clips from the middle of some jam to be used on late night TV. The obvious touchstones here are Eno’s On Land and Music For Films, but O’Sullivcan’s touch on multiple instruments and knack for melody extend the music far beyond mere atmospherics. There are plenty of drifty segments, each rendered fully realized—a timely reminder that a well-made drone or bit of ambience can set its spell in two or three minutes rather than thirty. In a beautiful jacket designed by O’Sullivan and Turner Prize-nominee Mark Titchner.