Over the past year, we have been treated to a breath-taking wave of ambient music works by Dublin-based musician, filmmaker, and director Myles O’Reilly, under the moniker [Indistinct Chatter].
Earlier this week, he shared his third ambient LP ‘My Mother’s Star’.
‘Your Excitement’ was the first taster shared by Myles, shared on his mother’s birthday, accompanied by a short film he created which he casts a lens on essential service retail outlets open in Dublin’s city centre, during the strict level 5 pandemic lockdown of January 2021. Video: https://youtu.be/GCezs4I4lW0
Speaking about the album, Myles says: “Due to the pandemic lockdown measures of January 2021 I found myself in the studio again. The process of making myself create a new sound every day was a routine that was key to nurturing my mental health and well-being at that time. I did a lot of experimenting with generative modular patches, looking to create happy accidents.
Increasingly through the process, there would form thoughts and memories of my mother. Inside the notes, scales, and sounds, her presence became ever more pronounced. I would then start each day with a meditation on her and begin creating sounds informed by the feelings that surfaced.
There were tough days where I was shadowed by the grief of her loss but in accessing that sorrow, so too did I unlock many memories of the joys we shared, especially in childhood. Investigating the shores of Blessington lake where we lived. Family holidays together. Her peaceful naps in the conservatory of our house. Nights driving home. Her car headlights illuminating rows of giant sleeping trees that would wake to dance and pirouette past us to the music she was playing. Eclectic. Vivaldi, Bach, Donna Summer, Hulio Iglesias.
During the lockdown, some days were uninspiring and revealed nothing to me at all, but it was the practice of trying that always meant I was closer to hitting on something positive. A total of 8 times the energy and warmth of her love would shine through the sounds I was generating like a gap in the clouds, and it’s those moments that have resulted in this album, ‘My Mother’s Star’.“
‘My Mother’s Star’ LP by [Indistinct Chatter] is out now all digital platforms.
Bandcamp: https://mylesoreilly.bandcamp.com/album/my-mothers-star
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4ZW8chj6uZFbQdMT7kg5gF?si=fWY_HiJ5QNuy8KPYny4xog
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