Transitions

Musical perfection. Patrick O'Hearn never disappoints.

I have been a fan ever since I heard Trust way back in 95 in Tower Records in the SF Bay Area. I always enjoyed O'Hearn's use of analogue string synths in most of his songs in the 90's(a few in the 80s, with Coba being my favorite O'Hearn song of all time). I gave this album a few weeks to digest. I don't like it that much(almost gave it 2 stars). Its mostly ambient in nature, which isn't bad, but to me, his 'trademark" sound isn't their in many of the songs(2-3 of them or so). My favorites are: 1) Reaching Land(sounds like the 90s stuff), and Playground(with the use of the synth strings)...other than these two, the rest are just average to not good. Disapointing album from a long time fan. One other critisism is that Mr. O'Hearn takes a looong time to release music. Every few years is fine, but 4 years between releases is to long, especially for electronic type music without vocals.

ohmygod......ohmygod.......ohmygod.......yes!..............must have it now! Sonic construction is masterful and complete. Patrick O'hearn has been writing for me for years now.....or so it seems. What a good day this is, to discover his new release. I agree with other reviewers that "Glaciation" would have been difficult to surpass, however there seems to be a new facet to this diamond composer being expressed. Cliches loom before me......but I know that Patrick has reached for something new in this recording and I can hear it brilliantly clear, even though the words fail me to express. Just lovely to hear.............a treasure! Bow before the Master........I know no other like him. :-)

I have been listening to Patrick's music since the `80's, and I can say that this release does NOT disappoint. His opening track, `Reaching Land', which was previously released as a single, sets the tone for a wonderfully fresh if not slightly nostalgic new journey. `Courage' is a fragile cinematic piece that could have been an Edward Shearmur piece, but there is something distantly disquieting that we eventually catch a glimpse of at the conclusion of the piece - awesome, Patrick! `Playground' evokes an eerie innocence like a half-remembered childhood dream. On `Restless', new and older familiar timbres blend with mechanical and metallic precision, while still infusing the woodiness of the fretless bass / cello lead, which creates a vista only O'Hearn listeners could recognize. Crystalline `Patterns' offers a simple and lovely look at musical structure and complementary substance, which leads us to a similar piece - `Well-Mannered', which is a more classically-inspired version of the similar pattern structure, using more natural and signature O'Hearn tones. Taking `Flight' is a fairly minimalistic O'Hearn piece, with the occasional burst of soaring textures. My favorite piece of the album is `Sea', with is warm pads and strangely inverted rolling "waves" and subtly flanged swells; the addition of the sparse reverberant piano lead is just perfection, and evokes the huge vista of being on a sailboat at dusk when the sun is golden bronze and the water is copper. The final piece `Frontiers Revisited' is a bit of a quirky piece with a clockwork-like lead-in that builds with piano, marimba, and is a nice nod to some of Patrick's other work that doesn't necessarily fit neatly into any "ambient" category. I wish this was available in lossless -- this release would be an excellent candidate, as I find Patrick's music much more suited for headphone listening. He's put this much effort into delivering such an excellent album, I want to make sure that I put some effort into listening to it properly. Overall, I'm really enjoying Patrick's newest work, and I sincerely hope he can continue to make wonderful music like this for years to come! 4.5 Stars

I have been an O'Hearn fan since his Private Music label days. Even to this day, his masterpiece Ancient Dreams and the excellent Between Two Worlds amaze me (iTunes, that you don't offer these two brilliant works here is ridiculous). I have been following his journey ever since, and have enjoyed many of his newer recordings. When I heard O'Hearn was returning to his old analog studio equipment for this new album, I was truly excited to imagine what we would be hearing next, after so many years of his minimal, but well crafted ambient outings. But, unfortunately for me, this album doesn't measure up to what I was hoping for. While this album is indeed as gorgeous as anything O'Hearn has done in the last several years, I was ready for his return to something more overall percussive and groove/ beat driven.

Every Patrick O'Hearn release is a truly a work of consummate art and craftsmanship, each one offering something new and exhilarating. The work found on 'Transitions' has elements both new and familiar, but altogether nothing you've every heard before. Like all the others before this, you can play it on a loop and find something unexpected with each listen. I consider myself lucky indeed to be a lifetime fan of Mr. O'Hearn's music...it has given me peace, hope and inspiration for over two decades. His music is to be treasured.