Five years after releasing Twelve of Hearts, Daniel O’Sullivan reconvenes with Richard Youngs for another intense minimalist meditation.
On their debut collaborative album, Youngs and O’Sullivan used a single chord progression to distill various pop idioms into twelve succinct tracks. And they try something completely different on Persian Carpets, a blissful, longform experiment that’ll be more familiar to anyone who’s been keeping up with Youngs’ Black Truffle sides. Youngs plays zither here, following O’Sullivan’s trance-inducing piano repetitions that recall his collaborations with the great Charlemagne Palestine. But it’s not only repetition that drives ‘Persian Carpets I’. O’Sullivan varies his phrases by altering the dynamics as he plays, creating waves of noise…
Tag Archive: Daniel O’Sullivan
There is a secret-ish history of whimsy as a driving force in English music that runs from the Beatles and early Pink Floyd all the way through to Aphex Twin. Forever approaching silliness yet never tipping over the edge, the mood is summoned anew on Eros, a delightful new orchestral project from Manchester experimental composer Daniel O’Sullivan.
A wearer of different hats and a conjurer of many moods, O’Sullivan is perhaps best known as one-half of the ominous instrumental duo Grumbling Fur. He has also collaborated with drone metal wizards of chill, Sunn O))), and Norwegian experimental electronic band Ulver.
This latest undertaking is composed for 14-piece ensemble and commissioned by a stock…