Search - Patrick O'Hearn :: Slow Time

Different, very different. Still wonderful nonetheless.

Distant Voyageur | Io | 07/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A good 20 years through many eras in music and continuing with his tenth release "Slow Time", Patrick O'Hearn retains the amazing quality that has defined the way I view New Age music ever since hearing Ancient Dreams when I was just a toddler.



The newest release appropriately entitled "Slow Time" is just as the title suggests, a very slow but gorgeous album and another home run by arguably my favorite New Age maestro for the last decade and a half. The album is without a doubt a major departure from even his more medieval sounding works that followed "Indigo" many years ago. It's perhaps the greatest departure from his trademark sound since the changes that took place between El Dorado and Indigo. Here O'Hearn's rhythms are absent from six of the eight tracks on here. the album in places reminds me almost of Steve Roach's "Magnificent Void" from nearly a decade ago with it's eerie sounds and space atmospheres. Those who've embraced "Ancient Dreams" and "Beautiful World" and "So Flows The Current" will not be immediately thrilled by this newest outing but for me, it's another new chapter in the arc of music Pat has released in the last 20 years.



"Music For Three Vibraphones" is an eight-minute experimental track that has nothing but a vibraphone/marimba instrument delivering a beautiful if somewhat repetitive melody on metallic tones of a vibraphone. I've played something similar oddly enough when playing a vibraphone. The track is in my opinion the greatest departure from any of his songs of the past. It is followed up by the title track which is more akin to what I'd hear from Jonn Serrie or Steve Roach. "Slow Time" has a haunting melody with what to me sound a lot like dripping water and cricket sound effects to create a really dark but beautiful somber melody. This track oddly enough reminds me of images of swimming deep in the ocean with the light being provided by deep sea fish using their own lights to illuminate the scene. "Let's Move On" is an experimental track that uses mostly electronic effects to create a dark psychedelic but peaceful atmosphere and the track reminds me of the electronic experimental tracks of the early 1970s like "Cosmic Kitchen" by Roger Powell. "I Could Live Here" goes into the more familiar O'Hearn territory with a strange water like ambient background effects and a tribal sound that dominates the track. The effects beautiful merge into the fifth track entitled "Where We Once Stood" which is a moody and melancholy track that reminds me somewhat of the "Lone Man" from a decade earlier. "A Welcome Sight" is the closest one gets to familiar O'Hearn territory with a maracas-like instrument providing the percussion and bits and pieces of the medieval sounds of previous releases as well as the beautiful echoing pianos.



"Slow Time" is yet again another wonderful outing from one of the greatest New Age maestros in the New Age field. It may not be the kind of album that changed the world the way "Indigo" or "So Flows The Current" did for me but it's still a must-have. Who knows what O'Hearn will cook up next. Highly recommended.

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An audible painting

Denny M. Holland | Daly City, CA | 08/27/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Having followed Patrick's career since his first solo album, I look forward to each new release. Slow Time marks another highlight in his growing library of thought provoking music. This album, with its soft undercurrents of layered tones and susurrus rhythms, speaks of life just under the surface. Like the quiet pulse of life one would find beneath a mossy bed of leaves or the faint rustle of thousands of leaves moving in the wind, Slow Time breathes with purpose. This album certainly won't be for everyone, but if you require music for late night creativity sessions like writing or painting, then Slow Time should be in your CD player."

O'Hearn is pure quality, even in "slow time"

G. Seidel | 01/18/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've been a fan of Patrick O'Hearn since 1988, well actually since his days with Missing Persons! And although this album is a departure from River's Gonna Rise (his most easy listening) or Between Two Worlds (typical O'Hearn, so melodic) or Ancient Dreams (I believe to be a fav among many fans),I disagree that this album is a departure from his signature style. In fact, in listening to the album and picking it apart song by song, it sounds like it exactly what makes O'Hearn, but at his core.



Granted, Music for Three Vibraphones, for the average listener like me, is a bit hard to capture. I'm just not that musically savvy. I Remember Now reminds me of Devil's Lake (from Indigo) and its darkness leaves me more likely to skip over it.



I find the rest of the tracks to be very much in the style of Patrick O'Hearn - introspective, lush, thoughtful and able to evoke a mood unlike that of any other musical artist. In fact ,IMHO, A Welcome Sight is so compelling, so almost magical, that at each listen I realized that I had stopped whatever I was doing and my mind was drifting along to to someplace -- some mental landscape -- where I had not been before. Other pieces he has written, such as Crossing the Divide, Sacred Heart and Forever the Optimist have produced the same effect on me. That is the gift and creativity of Patrick O'Hearn.



If you're a new listener, start with his first two albums or a "best of" before you try Slow Time. If you're a fan, don't let this one go by without a deep listen.

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