Kormac: Equivalent Exchange - Long awaited album from collaborative artist

Once upon a time, if an artist/musician was out of the public eye it gave the impression they were doing nothing of any consequence, except, perhaps, squandering the millions (they wished) they made from their songs. Dublin producer/composer/DJ Kormac has indeed been missing from various levels of visible action – Equivalent Exchange is his third album since 2014′s Doorsteps – but to claim he has been sitting on whatever laurels he has gathered is completely wrong.

Alongside live shows and numerous feature films and multi-episodic television soundtrack work, Kormac has for several years been busy collaborating with artists on new material. Ambitions for the album have been running high from the start, with the producer writing a full suite of material for orchestra (conducted by Ken Rice).) and working with singers and rappers on a range of song styles.

Across six of the eight tracks (two are ostensibly instrumentals – You’ll Stay, and the almost title track, An Equivalent Exchange), the use of vocalists achieves variable results. Jafaris claims justified kudos on the quiet/loud Bottom of the Ocean (a co-vocal with Loah) and the dramatic Ondes; Loah and MayKay do their substantial thing on, respectively, Carry Weight and Always the Sound; while Jack O’Rourke seems sorely underused on New Day. The outcome is a batch of forward-thinking tunes that, mostly, seize the day – and the night.