It’s been awhile since a disc of ethereal, slow-moving instrumental music (this once would have been called “new age”) has captured my imagination like Patrick O’Hearn’s Glaciation has. Like the glaciers and icebergs that adorn the lovely CD package, these compositions have a spare, mysterious, other-worldly beauty. I mean to pay this release a high compliment when I note that some of this music recalls the most evocative work of Brian Eno, in the way O’Hearn places the instruments in different ambient fields and the way the tunes unfold so naturally and majestically. But far from being just a keyboard/synth workout, this features many other textures, from pulsing basses to Hawaiian guitar (recalling Eno’s gorgeous Apollo) to percussion. All in all, it’s a wondrous trip!
Produced and performed by O’Hearn in his Nashville home studio, Lair Subterraneous.
