Those familiar with Neil O’Connor’s previous work on keys with the Redneck Manifesto will know what to expect here. So will anyone who caught his mentor Roger Doyle’s fringe show The Room in the Tower, self-described as cinema for the ears. The mood set will haunt you long after the album itself has ended, and while not completely different from anything you’ve heard before, it is, quite simply... gorgeous.
Throughout his career, Somadrone has become skilled in a variety of genres (folk, jazz, electronica, rock) and they are all funnelled into this his third ‘drone album. You’ll catch a wisp of one before another overpowers it and before you can take either on board they’ve fused together and dissolved. The overall ambient airs start with a steady beat, flowing vocals, strings and bleeps over it, flat-lining you into one mood before shimmering to life and massaging you on to the next.
More structured than his previous work, the wavering, choral vocals crystalise the more freewheeling instrumentals and each track laps towards its end before flowing out and starting again. There are touches of Brian Eno, Thom Yorke and Air to the whole album and at points a less bleak Bowie, circa the Berlin trilogy.
This is five o’clock in the morning music, used to bat away the sunlight creeping through the curtains. Just lie back and let it take you. A pleasure.
Key Track: ‘Providince’