|
< main menu news latest catalogue UT releases Audion retail mail-order address email gig news |
UT RELEASES / KEVIN O'NEILL
|
Kevin O'Neill |
||||||||||||||||
article extract... ICON (recorded between March and
December, 1983) contains seven tracks, four of which were produced at Hollow
Sun. Instrumentation and effects comprise Roland SH-101, Juno 6, ARP 2600,
Yamaha DX9, TR606, TB303, phaser, flanger, echo and reverb. (Recently the
studio's equipment has been considerably added to and now includes an Akai
AX80, a Roland System 100 and other expander modules for the ARP 2600 amongst
many other items). The music contained on ICON is surprisingly sophisticated and
professional with a wealth of ideas that it's sometimes hard to believe it's
a debut album! ... Kevin successfully avoids the pitfalls of copyist
techniques (no Schulze clone here!) and the cliché-ridden interminable
sequences and drum machine patterns, so often a cover-up for lack of
originality are thankfully absent. It's hard to single out particular tracks
for all are notable in their own right, ranging from the hauntingly melodic
and bittersweet Julia to the rather weird percussive The F'tang
Element. There are the stark other-worldly soundscapes of Valles
Marineris (inspired by the "sandstorm-swept landscape of the great
rift valley on Mars named after the Mariner probe of the seventies" -
Kevin's words), and the splendour of the evocative On the Wings of the
Condor which I am wont to describe as a Tone Poem for synthesizers. by Peter Harrison in Audion #2, pages 26-28 (September 1986) |
more
info... contact... reference... videos... |
|
||||||||||||||
web site
designed and managed by Alan Freeman © 2000-2026 Ultima Thule, Leicester,
UK -
constantly work in progress, advice welcome, please report broken
links - E&OE