James O’Callaghan’s Alone and Unalone is available from Ravello Records. Marrying traditional instruments, ambient sounds, and the power of the human voice, the album aims to challenge the listener to grapple with solitude. It opens with 'subject / object', where an eruption of piercing woodwinds, rhythmic punctuations, and metallic screeches are overcome at intervals by immersive silence...

Imagine every horror soundtrack cliche and you'll pretty much have a good idea of what James O'Callaghan delivers on Alone and Unalone. Across these four pieces (1 hr, 02 min, 06 sec) we hear whispers, tapping, the plucking of strings, sharp shocks, creaks... you name it, it's all here.

Horror scores, or contemporary classical music like this, usually leave me cold, but here there's a sense of urgency, of driving towards something. True, on a primal level, it will unsettle you, which is a hard musical skill to master, but it's all building to the final piece 'Alone and Unalone' which has a theme, of sorts, that brings everything together.

It's an interesting project, but it's not one you'd really want to listen to very often. Fans of experimental contemporary classical music that bends the form, may find much to love here. Everyone else will just think: "Ah, a horror soundtrack."

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Darren Rea