Music > Album Reviews

Dustin O'Halloran // Lumiere

13/05/13

My first impression of Lumiere is that it should have been a film score, but I think that might be underselling it a bit because, whilst the majority of those require the movie they were written for to befully appreciated, this does stand up entirely on its own. Rather, then, this work has very distinct filmic qualities and is able to very well conjure up its own imagery. There are echoes of Sigur Ros here, some of the chord progressions and choices of instruments and sounds are very similar, but I don’t think that should take away from the beauty and depth that Lumiere manages to encompass. This is the sort of record that you’d put on when alone, with a bottle of red wine, in the dark, and want to have a cry. The arrangements on Lumiere are based around O’Halloran’s piano playing, with strings performed by the ACME Ensemble (who have worked with the likes of Grizzly Bear, Nico Muhly and Matmos) and some very subtle and well placed electronics and it’s all a very precise and extremely well considered affair. It’s not a perfect record, but it does manage to avoid most of the clichés associated with ‘pop-classical’ music and is at points genuinely moving.

 7/10 BBV