Daniel O’Sullivan’s Eros contains commendable exploratory ambition

In the worst cases, it’s a label lazily attached to some drearily repetitive stuff that’s tired and tiresome. However, when a minimalist pattern is the basis for a well-integrated set of compositions that fulfil a potential beyond that of jejune ambient mood pieces, the results (as here) can be imaginative and, indeed, ambitiously varied.

Certainly (perhaps inevitably), there are echoes of Glass, but what impresses most is the sense of adventure of Daniel O’Sullivan, who often determines the development of things from a piano or synthesiser, in a manner similar to that of a Baroque master directing from a harpsichord, maintaining a well-defined structure within each track, yet exploring in an original manner the sonic relationships between some traditional classical chamber instruments (violin, viola, cello), and then boldly allowing brass (french horn, trombone, tuba, among others) to take the music into more complex territory, such that by the time we reach the end of track five (“Grapes Draped”) we are a long way from simple rhythmic patterns, yet the underlying percussive effects keep matters well grounded before a return to a less sonically dense piece, the following “Xanix Annum”.

One reason why this album works well is that O’Sullivan recognises how effective it can be just taking some initially uncomplicated rhythms in unusual directions, without undisciplined freeform indulgence, and he is not afraid of reverting back to more simple patterns for effectively satisfying contrasts, as in “Rotunda Garden” where it might have been tempting to push towards over-elaboration. Instead, he acknowledges that the point has been very well made after only a minute and a half. Enough said, as it were.

Another admirable feature is the well-timed use jagged musical patterns, occasionally verging on the industrial, that (in “Theia Mania”, for instance) remind one of Varèse. Again, we can appreciate O’Sullivan’s commendable exploratory ambition. The shifts in pace and direction keep the listener alert for tonal shifts, changes of mood, from the forceful to the introspective to the quizzical, as the clever sequencing of tracks – especially on the second side – maintains the listener’s interest throughout this unusual and convincing record.