A lot of people who I know don’t really understand the music that I listen to. Many of them think because I have a beard and I’m covered in tattoos that I’m a goth!?  Strange, I know. It’s not their fault; they just don’t understand the difference between me and a goth. 

I often ask “Well, what do you listen to?”  I get a reply along the lines of: “I dunno, summet good.”   I find it very amusing that they class themselves and their listening habits as ‘normal.’ What the hell is normal these days anyway, who knows? But I get a real sense of triumph when I walk into a room with my headphones slung around my neck, as the faint sound emanating from them grabs the attention of one such person:

“What you listening to now, some shit goth music?’

 I find great pleasure in replying with “No, it’s classical actually.”  The bemusement on their faces as they try to comprehend what I have just said; their brain goes into overload whilst trying to think of something to say. Alas, the look of bemusement generally stays and all I get is a grunt followed by some single word retort like ‘freak’ or ‘weirdo.’  That’ll do me just fine. I’m happy in the knowledge that it is they who are are missing out on this emerging world bouncing around inside my skull.

Dustin O’Halloran is the latest of such artists to blip onto my musical radar with his latest album ‘Lumiere’  Right from the first few notes of ‘A Great Divide’ I was drawn in, like a moth to a porch light. Utterly captivating and thoroughly thought provoking, I find myself listening intently to every note and each sound captured on the recording, from the played notes to the less obvious sounds made by the keys themselves being pressed or the piano stool as it creaks beneath him. Even the appearance of a thunder storm at the end of ‘Snow + Light’ makes for a sonically perfect ending to the wonderful musical journey that precedes it. Each moment in each song has the ability to conjure up several different emotive responses, and unlike many classical compositions O’Halloran manages to do all this in the length of your average pop song.  He has somehow managed to place himself within the boundaries of classical music which is perfect for the impatient generation, for people who want to experience the grandeur of a GYBE song but can’t be bothered to wait through the twenty minute build for the crescendo explosion. I’ve seen the term ‘post-classical’ coined on several occasions, which would put him along side others who have been branded with this tag such as Peter Broderick and Ólafur Arnalds,  but I’m unsure if it’s a term that O’Halloran himself would appreciate.

With the multitude of instruments and artists featured on this recording, I think anyone with a true appreciation for music and the power it can hold would definitely be hard pressed to find any fault with this album. It is a modern masterpiece of epic proportions; I just hope that future generations will one day show the same sort of appreciation for his music that our own displays for artists like Brian Eno, Stars of the Lid or John Cage.

Lumiere by Dustinohalloran