Daniel O'Sullivan - The Pastoral Machine (2024)

Fourth volume of Library Music miniatures by Daniel O’Sullivan (Ulver, Æthenor, This is Not This Heat, etc) for VHF, this time commissioned by the legendary German Music Library, Sonoton. Another sampling of Dan’s versatility and brilliance as a composer, performer, and sound designer, the focus on The Pastoral Machine is more “electronic” compared to the three previous albums Dan recorded for KPM (also issued on LP by VHF), with simpler arrangements and a focus on gentle and emotive synthesised soundworlds. Even without as many full ensemble arrangements, there’s still a wealth of diversity – ‘Empathogen’ opens the record with latticed arpeggiating sequences recalling Japanese “environmental music” or Persian Surgery-era Terry Riley, ‘Fruit of Stream Entry’ burbles with gentle ripples evoking the LP’s title, while ‘The Silversmith of Space’ mines a simple chord sequence evoking Eno’s 70’s classic short instrumentals. ‘Superstrings’ is a series of hypnotic overlapping guitar patterns, like a lost Ash Ra or Achim Reichel track. The brief ‘Star Lore’ is a heavy highlight with deep bass washes and grainy, tape-laminated melodies, followed immediately by Rose Keeler Schaffeler’s vocal feature on ‘The Oscillating Love’ recalling futurist new-age pop in the vein of Enya or Virginia Astley. Housed in a jacket and heavy euro-style inner featuring collages by Daniel, soon to be the subject of an art book published by Timeless Editions in mid-2024.