Music — Daniel o'toole

O’Toole, an alumnus of SAE/ School of Audio Engineering, embarked on his musical journey in the early 2000s, utilising an Akai S2000 sampler and his parents record collection. With a solid foundation in violin, he evolved into a multi-instrumentalist, incorporating an ever growing collection of vintage synths, flute, percussion, keys, mandolin, and guitar into his repertoire. In 2022, O’Toole designed the 'Electric Moon,' a unique solid body electric instrument inspired by the ancient Chinese lute, Zhong Ruan', crafted by luthier Aaron O’Neil from the Blue Mountains/Sydney, Australia.

By 2024, he has released 6 albums under the pseudonym 'Captain Earwax' and 3 albums under his given name, delving into experimental ambient compositions. O’Toole's music is distinguished by its analog warmth, a fuzzy ambiance, and intricate layering of instruments, creating immersive atmospheres that oscillate between the familiar and otherworldly.

Active in Melbourne's music scene, O’Toole co-hosts the monthly ambient music night 'Signals' at Kent St Bar and founded the long-running 'Free the Beats' compilation series. His monthly event provides a platform for showcasing diverse talents within the experimental music genre.

Having honed his skills during an era when projects were saved on floppy discs, O’Toole boasts a robust education in sound design and mixing, combining acoustic and electric signals in his compositions. Notably, he contributed a bespoke soundscape for the collaboration with Nixi Killick's 'JOY' exhibit at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne. In 2023, he released 'Luminous Unknown' in collaboration with a live string quartet, on his independent imprint 'Cascade Rumble,' showcasing his commitment to pushing the boundaries of sonic exploration and collaboration within the music and arts community.

The sound of flowers

The sound of flowers is a live album, recorded in Naarm, Nov 2023 at Signals, a monthly ambient music event hosted at Kent st. 201 Smith Street, Collingwood. VIC.

The live set was played using a custom instrument I designed called the 'Particle plate', which allows me to trigger complex midi sequences by dropping a grains of rice, or pingpong ball on a steel plate, its a sort of random gravity sequencer, which simultaneously controls 8 instruments, which I can live mix and effect. This was paired with improvisation on the Terra synth by Soma Synths, and live jamming on stems and loops in Ableton.

Recorded by Kieran Ruffles.

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released November 12, 2024

LUMINOUS UNKNOWN

“Luminous unknown” refers to the idea that creatures of the insect world are able to perceive colours beyond human perception, and endeavours to capture the feeling of this heightened perception where extra frequencies of light exist.

Daniel O’Toole, multimedia artist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, is excited to announce the release of his latest album, "Luminous unknown.” out on his new label 'Cascade Rumble Records'.

Having established a career in the gallery space, O’Toole exhibits internationally, creating minimal colour field paintings inspired by the ‘Light and space’ movement of Los Angeles. Artists like ‘James Turrell’ and ‘Brian Eno’ come to mind.

In recent years, O’Toole’s practice has increasingly incorporated sound in his exhibition design; offering a more immersive experience, creating a specific mood to enhance the journey of discovering his colour field paintings, giving us a glimpse at an undefinable language that the artist is building to communicate synaesthetically.

"Luminous unknown" features field recordings from the Louvre in Paris (recorded by artistic duo Joe Wilson and Chanelle Collier, as part of THIS IS NOT A LOVE SONG), as well as the sound of a live string quartet, (recorded by Jack Garzonio at 301 Studios /Syd) featuring, Yuhki Mayne (1st Violin), Dora Maria (2nd Violin), Neil Thompson (Viola), and Eleanor Streatfield (Cello).

"Luminous unknown" seamlessly fuses elements of ambient, experimental, neoclassical, instrumental and electro-acoustic music. Incorporating field recordings, with a live string quartet, to create a surreal and immersive listening experience.

This music is innovative in its ability to stretch time, the compositions are meandering and cinematic. A hypnotic layering of warm synth tones bubble along rhythmically, while the live string quartet glues the whole thing together. O’Toole’s music is a sort of ASMR dream, he seems fascinated with textures and combinations of sound that are visceral and otherworldly.

‘Luminous unknown’ is an unusual album launch; instead of being played in a music venue live, we are invited into the gallery space (Modern Times on Smith Street) to hear it playing off a record player while surrounded by the artist's sculptural paintings.

credits

Released August 4, 2023

Instrumentation / Violin, Cello, Viola, Hydrasynth, Fujara (overtone flute), Minimoog model D, Akai S2000 Sampler, Prophet 5, Behringer arp 2600.

String quartet / 1st violin - Yuhki Mayne, 2nd violin - Dora Maria, Viola - Neil Thompson, Cello - Eleanor Streatfield
(Quartet features on tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9.)

Strings / Recorded at 301 Studios - Audio engineer - Jack Garzonio

Mastering / Jack Prest

String arrangement / Matt Keegan

All other instruments and programming / Daniel O’Toole

Field recordings on Eye of the butterfly / Joe Wilson and Chanelle collier, recorded at the Louvre / Paris.

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Deliquescent light

Released February 24, 2021

Deliquescent light is an exhibition soundtrack intended to accompany the experience of viewing colour field paintings that were exhibited on 11/2/21 in Sydney at Curatorial and co Gallery.

A texturally rich narrative of emotive movements unfolds with unexpected twists and turns, with euphoric and joyful jaunts like Cellophane, the dystopian soundscape of Molten Sky, and short noise-based textural interludes like Marble and Portals.

The album is a collection of sound works that range from ambient pieces that have been used as the soundtracks for video works to more rhythmic tracks

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Instrumentation / Minimoog model D, Yamaha CS 10, Space echo RE-201, Akai S2000 sampler, percussion (Nick Martyn) Nyckelharpa (Stephanie Reed), Guitar (Sorcha Albuquerque) and Violin (Daniel O’Toole), Drums by Plutonic Lab.

Features- The album features musicians Plutonic Lab (Overgrown statues) and Nick Martyn (Sidelines) on percussion/Drums.
Sorcha Albuquerque plays guitar on Cellophane, and Stephanie Reed plays Nyckelharpa on Overgrown statues.

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OMENS

Released August 19, 2022

'OMENS' is a collection of works to accompany the solo exhibition 'Tempered Resolution'; a series of paintings and sculptural works by Daniel O'Toole showing at Curatorial and Co in Sydney August/2022.

Instrumentation/ Prophet 5, Hydrasynth, Behringer 2600, RE201 Space echo, korg, electribe es1, Violin, Cello, Fujara, Flute and percussion.

credits

Cello by Liz Hanks (UK) on tracks 1,3,5,7,10, All synths, violin, percussion and arrangements by Daniel O'Toole, Flute by Angelina Nikolić on track 2.

Mastered by Jack Prest