TONY O'CONNOR
Under Southern Skies
(c) (p) 2000 Studio Horizon
8tks/54mins

Far away, at the far South lays a virgin land. There under warm southern sun the boundless downy flats are outspread, covered by young forest. A clime of untouched trees and never-frightened birds, vocaled with their chirrup all around. A clime where clouds draw the fantastic patterns at the sky, and cold streams splatter among juicy green grass. Blessed land, keeping its original guise from ancient times. A land where one wants to be lost for a while and, forgetting of everything, just to walk among all that diversity, breathing its wet a little, fed by the fragrance of beautiful flowers, heady ear. A clime where you feel yourself absolutely free, where your soul is healed and your body gains strength. A sanctuary, an asylum for a poet and dreamer, where everything is penetrated by magic beauty, encouraging to live and filling with energy. And that beauty goes deep inside, and there's nothing already, only it and delight melting with it, when tears are flowing and your heart is dying because of great joy…

That's Tony O'Connor's music. That's his new album "Under Southern Skies". Music of Tony O'Connor is penetrated by romance, it has no conflict, no tension. There are soft concords and vivid rhythms. Male and female origins are melted there. There's no violence in his music, but a lot of energy. It carries you like a quick stream, and it is impossible to select, to separate the compositions. Also there are natural sounds, voices of birds, of thunderstorm; they are masterly arranged and have become a part of the whole. And appearing didgeridoo of Matt James just accents that original harmony reigning in the melodies of Tony O'Connor.

Masterly - that's a key word for this album. Masterliness can be felt everywhere there: in harmonic arranging, Tony O'Connor's playing various instruments - keyboards of many kinds (Kurzweil piano, Roland, Korg, Akai, SuperNova synths, samplers, oboe, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, percussion. And it sounds precisely. Tony O'Connor is not only an accomplished composer and performer, but also a highly qualified sound designer.

The composer intended to create a project which would differ, a little at least, of all the previous works of Tony O'Connor, rose to prominence all over the world. And he managed it brilliantly! One wants to listen to "Under Southern Skies" again and again, it fills you with its fragrance and brings to that unbounded, beautiful land, which lies there, far away, somewhere at the side of Great Ocean, under the fancifully colored silent southern skies…

Serge Kozlovsky

P.S. I would like to express my gratitude to Andrej Karatkevich for the translation of this review.