Cage of Time is the eighth album from Irish composer Seamus O’Muineachain. It is also his first album written entirely for solo piano. A few years ago, I reviewed Seamus’ Different Time Zones, which combined piano, synthesizers and guitar, so this album is quite different. I found it very interesting to learn that Seamus first recorded the album digitally with a MIDI keyboard, but found that the essence of the music was missing. He deleted that first draft and went back to the “busted-up old upright piano” that he composed the music on originally, resulting in his most stripped-down and intimate album so far. Some of the inner workings of the piano can be heard in the music, but they don’t over-power the music itself at all. If you’re looking for a recording on a perfectly-tuned and voiced Shigeru Kawaii or a Steinway concert grand, this album probably won’t do it for you, but I would imagine that Seamus has composed a lot of his music on this piano and that it has become an extension of himself and likely part of his family. Old pianos have so many stories they could tell and, perhaps, some of those have been expressed on this album through Seamus. Maybe that’s why the pieces didn’t sound right on the other instrument.

Quoting the material that Seamus sent along with the recording:

“…O’Muineachain muses on the constraints of time and how using it as a metric traps us in certain psychological patterns. The old piano—weathered and imperfect—mirrors this idea. It becomes both a relic of the past and a tool for unravelling it, evoking a lo-fi world now confined within digital infrastructure: a cage of time in both sound and spirit.”

Cage of Time begins with “Far,” a slow, dreamy piece with a gentle rocking rhythm. “Until the Lighthouse” picks up the tempo a bit with a strong melody and heartfelt expression - a favorite! “Petrichor” refers to the pleasant smell that often precedes rain after a dry spell, and the piece with that title has a warm, welcoming feeling. “Contemplate the Moon” has two distinct themes that weave in and out of the piece - one that is more energetic and one that is more subdued - also a favorite. “Ponder” feels like a warm and gentle daydream that meanders at its own leisurely pace - I really like this one, too! "Storms Over Achill" was composed during a blackout in Storm Éowyn, the most severe storm in Ireland’s recorded history. The video for this piece was created by candlelight and can be watched on Seamus’ YouTube channel. “Auditorium” is a reinterpretation of the song, “Mongolia,” a piece Seamus originally wrote for his band, Music for Dead Birds, in 2011. There is a definite rock vibe in this one! The album closes with “Finally,” which was composed in a cafe in Bangkok in 2024. Slow, minimal and relaxed for much of the piece, it really picks up the energy level near the end!

Cage of Time is a very interesting exploration of ideas expressed with the voice of a “busted-up old upright piano.” It is available from Bandcamp, Amazon and Apple Music/iTunes, and can also be streamed on Spotify, Pandora and YouTube. Check it out!