Album Review: Gerard O'Donnell – In Honour of the Moon (9/10)

In Honour of the Moon by Gerard O'Donnell makes no claims to attention – it merely earns it. The nine-piece cycle of nocturnes is a meditative journey into memory, myth, and quiet of the nighttime hours, delivered with a pianist’s concern with detail and a folklorist’s heart.

Coming straight on the back of national acclaim, including Channel 4's The Piano and strong Irish radio airplay, O'Donnell returns with his most unified record yet. It is a three-movement record, commencing with ritual gravitas of In Honour of the Moon (Part 1) - a theatrical opening act which sets down the harmonic idiom of the album as a whole. From here we glide through the spectral Ghost, elegance of light of Porcelain, and subtle political currents of Should England Sing.

Midway, the record establishes its roots in nature and myth: He by Water is reflective and meditationally inclined, and I mo Mharbhcholadh sounds like a rambunctious fireside tale. The second and third reprises of the title song surround the album’s central theme graciously, with Solstice contributing one dramatic, pagan-tempered flash before all settles into a final, warmed resolution.

It combines classical form with spacey mood and Irish soul. Nothing seems overwrought - each note, each inhalation, falls with delicate purpose. In Honour of the Moon is an album suited best alone at night when the universe winds down and the sky begins to speak.