Universal
New Age, 2000

Just like his last effort Solas, Ronan Hardiman uses the same loops in a track to create repetitive music. This time around, he goes for a more new age feel, which means more sweeping violins and female choruses wailing. It’s nothing I’ve never heard before.

Mr Hardiman experiments with Gregorian chants as well as musical influences from various cultures. But due to his tendency to take a loop and repeat it until a certain time has passed, the dreaded female vocalist often shows up for the same three or four lines again and again to the same repeated refrain – stop, make it stop! Even Salve, which has a beautiful choral verse, becomes an excruciating agony to listen to as the same verse, followed by the same chorus, plays and replays until the four minute eight seconds mark is up.

Please stop, Mr Hardiman.