29 Mar 2024
UsernamePassword

Remember Me? | Join | Recover
Click here to sign in via social networking

Rhian Sheehan - Album Review: Live at the Wellington Opera House

23 Sep 2015 // A review by Peter-James Dries

Rhian Sheehan is another one of those big names that’s been floating on the periphery of my music sphere for some time. Someone that I’ve been meaning to check out but yet to have the chance. 

A friend and fan of Jakob had suggested Sheehan, and I can see the similarities. Where Jakob is probably more classified as post-rock, Sheehan’s work is more in a post-classical electronic vein, relying less on beats and guitars in the traditional sense, but in elongated notes and movements. It’s intelligent music, asking you to access your thoughts and feelings as well as your creative unconscious to fully engage.

While I can’t comment on Sheehan’s extensive back catalogue, from what’s been presented in Live at the Wellington Opera House I can say their music is something I’m going to look out for, and you should to if you’re a fan of the cinematic and progressive. 

Live at the Wellington Opera House sees solo producer, Sheehan, put on his conductor hat and bring his music to life with the help of a collection of local artists and the Orchestra Wellington String Section in the perfect setting. 

Something can be said for the ambience of the Wellington Opera House. Even the interspersed crowd walla is rich with the spacey tones of opera echo and reverb.

One thing sadly lacking from this album, any album really, is the visual aspect of the performance. I wish I could have been there to see how the band came together to make this music was made live.

Luckily the richly textured, cinematic walls of sound do well for the synaesthetic, and made me wonder if the titles are arbitrary or came to be after reflection on the aural landscape was painted, so to speak. 

For those, like me, who missed the performance, you can read the words of someone who was there here and try to catch Rhian Sheehan live at the next opportunity.

Live at the Wellington Opera House is available from Baboom and Bandcamp.

 

About Rhian Sheehan

Rhian Sheehan is an award winning New Zealand-based composer and producer of cinematic music who is known for his unique melding of experimental soundscapes with emotive orchestral arrangements and environmental sound recordings.

His debut album Paradigm Shift (regarded as a landmark in New Zealand electronica) and 2004's Tiny Blue Biosphere, were acclaimed for their visionary blend of cerebral beats with sci-fi storylines and cosmic sensibilities. Yet these albums were conventional in comparison to his latter releases - Standing in Silence (2009), follow up EP Seven Tales of The North Wind (2011) and Stories From Elsewhere (2013), which are now regarded by many as archetypal amongst the ambient post-rock genre.

Rhian Sheehan is also an accomplished film and TV composer. His music regularly features on UK BBC television programming, including Horizon and Top Gear, as well as the US National Geographic and The Discovery channels. Sheehan’s music was used extensively during NBC’s primetime coverage of the 2012 London Olympics and has also been heard in a variety of TV commercials worldwide. Most recently, he co-wrote the soundtrack for a short film created for Hennessy featuring Martin Scorsese, and a recent US Nike advert featured his track Places Between from his EP, Seven Tales of The North Wind.

Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Rhian Sheehan

Releases

Recollections Vol. 1
Year: 2020
Type: Album
Recollections Vol. 2
Year: 2020
Type: Album
A Quiet Divide
Year: 2018
Type: Album
Buy Online @ Mightyape
Stories From Elsewhere
Year: 2013
Type: Album
Buy Online @ Mightyape
Seven Tales of the Northern Wind
Year: 2011
Type: Album
Standing In Silence
Year: 2009
Type: Album
Music For Nature Documentaries
Year: 2004
Type: Album
Tiny Blue Biosphere
Year: 2004
Type: Album
Paradigm Shift
Year: 2001
Type: Album

Other Reviews By Peter-James Dries

Yann Le Dorré - Album Review: The Circus is Closed
19 Dec 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
“We are Sex Bob-Omb and we're here to make you think about death and get sad and stuff!” - Scott Pilgrim vs.
Read More...
Sanoi - Album Review: Echoes Of Home
25 Nov 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
Electronica offers no escapism for me. It’s more of what I already have.
Read More...
Throng - EP Review: Decoherence
20 Oct 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
You know that thing where the letter B has a personality, or words have textures and colours? That’s called synaesthesia.
Read More...
Fortress Europe - Album Review: Old World
10 Oct 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
Have you ever been torn between listening to Mozart or Periphery? Does Epica have too much of that darn singing for your tastes?
Read More...
Yurt Party - Album Review: Yurt Party
07 Sep 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
It sure isn't summer, and this is really not the Balkans, but Yurt Party’s new self-titled album refutes that. Back with another one of them Balkan rocking beats, Yurt Party’s debut is jazzy, erratic, and full of zest and energetic grooves, with flavour notes of ska, dub, and bergamot.
Read More...
day13n - Album Review: /7/13/7/
06 Aug 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
I’m too old for this world. We’ve devolved to the point where music is only as good as the soundtrack to your 10 second TikTok, and the thirty thousand copies recycling the idea.
Read More...
The New Existentialists - Single Review: Invocation
16 Jul 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
The New Existentialists, a doom metal band known for their dark and atmospheric soundscapes, have just… Wait a minute… No. The New Existentialists are really not a doom metal band, and they’re really not known for their dark soundscapes… They’re more known as stalwarts of a bygone era.
Read More...
Samuel Philip Cooper - Album Review: Journey to Sobriety
01 Jun 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
Samuel Philip Cooper sits on the brink of social media stardom, with videos of his belting out pop music piano covers from behind a pair of thick spectacles racking up views and likes on Insta. Little do any of the mindless doom scrollers swiping through his reels know, but percolating behind his eye brows is the very key to their very salvation.
Read More...
View All Articles By Peter-James Dries

NZ Top 10 Singles

  • WE CAN'T BE FRIENDS (WAIT FOR YOUR LOVE)
    Ariana Grande
  • BEAUTIFUL THINGS
    Benson Boone
  • END OF BEGINNING
    Djo
  • LOSE CONTROL
    Teddy Swims
  • TEXAS HOLD 'EM
    Beyonce
  • STICK SEASON
    Noah Kahan
  • PRAISE JAH IN THE MOONLIGHT
    YG Marley
  • CARNIVAL
    Kanye West And Ty Dolla $ign
  • SATURN
    SZA
  • LOVIN ON ME
    Jack Harlow
View the Full NZ Top 40...
muzic.net.nz Logo
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report a ProblemReport A Problem