Mark O'Leary's Sunn O))) Synergies

 

Monoliths and Resonance: Mark O'Leary's Intersections with Sunn O)))

During the first decade of the twenty-first century, Seattle became an unlikely meeting point for several strands of experimental music. At one pole stood Sunn O))), whose amplifier-driven explorations redefined drone metal through overwhelming volume, sustained harmonic resonance and ritualistic performance. At another was Irish guitarist and composer Mark O'Leary, whose work with Eyvind Kang, Dylan van der Schyff and Cuong Vu pursued an equally uncompromising investigation of texture, improvisation and sonic space.

Although these traditions are often presented as belonging to different musical worlds, they shared remarkable points of convergence. Through Aleph Studios, producer Randall Dunn, engineer Mell Dettmer and a circle of adventurous musicians, O'Leary's work became deeply connected to the same creative ecosystem that produced some of Sunn O)))'s most celebrated recordings.

                 ALEPH STUDIOS (Seattle)
          Randall Dunn • Mell Dettmer
                     │
        ┌────────────┴────────────┐
        │                         │
   MARK O'LEARY               SUNN O)))
     Zemlya             Black One • Altar
                              Monoliths &
                              Dimensions
                                 Kannon
        │                         │
        └────────────┬────────────┘
                     │
                Eyvind Kang
          viola • strings • composition
                     │
                Cuong Vu
               trumpet (Waiting)
                     │
         shared experimental network

Parallel Descents into Sound

Long before recording in Seattle, O'Leary had already begun exploring the physical possibilities of amplified guitar. During performances surrounding Sky Shifter, he experimented with tuning the instrument down to B, lowering the sixth string further to A and using EBow, feedback and arco techniques to generate sustained low-frequency drones that blurred the distinction between guitar, strings and electronic sound.

Following one particularly intense performance at Galway Arts Centre, percussionist Günter Müller remarked simply, "Mark, it was very loud last night."

"I know," O'Leary replied apologetically.

"No," Müller answered. "I liked it."

This fascination with overwhelming sonic density eventually led O'Leary to synchronise ten Marshall amplifiers in the studio to achieve the immense layered textures heard on Sky Shifter (Creative Sources CS095).

Although developed independently, this pursuit of volume and resonance evolved in striking parallel with the work of Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson, whose towering Sunn amplifier backlines transformed amplification itself into an expressive instrument.

Aleph Studios: A Shared Creative Environment

The most tangible connection between O'Leary and Sunn O))) emerged at Aleph Studios in Seattle, operated by producer Randall Dunn and engineer Mell Dettmer.

Aleph became one of the defining recording spaces for experimental heavy music during the 2000s. Dunn and Dettmer worked on Black One (2005), while Altar (2006)—Sunn O)))'s landmark collaboration with Boris—was produced and engineered there with performances by Dunn, Dettmer and Eyvind Kang.

When O'Leary travelled to Seattle to record Zemlya, he entered precisely this creative environment. Dunn and Dettmer produced and engineered the sessions while welcoming him into their home, where he famously slept on their living-room floor beneath a black fur-lined parka, surrounded each morning by the couple's ten cats.

The atmosphere in which Zemlya was created was therefore not merely geographically close to Sunn O))); it was shaped by many of the same collaborators, recording practices and aesthetic values.

A Shared Musical Bloodline

The strongest connections between O'Leary and Sunn O))) are found not in stylistic imitation but in the remarkable overlap of collaborators.

Eyvind Kang

Violist and composer Eyvind Kang occupies perhaps the most significant position within this shared network.

Kang taught alongside O'Leary at Evergreen State College, toured the Pacific Northwest with O'Leary and Dylan van der Schyff, and collaborated extensively on Zemlya, contributing viola, electronics and his distinctive compositional voice. O'Leary also visited Kang's mother, the Icelandic-Canadian novelist Kristjana Gunnars, in Vancouver during this period.

Kang later became central to Sunn O)))'s Monoliths & Dimensions (2009), providing the sophisticated string, brass and choral orchestrations that transformed the album into one of the defining statements of contemporary drone music. O'Leary has frequently cited Monoliths & Dimensions as one of the great achievements of the genre.

Cuong Vu

Trumpeter Cuong Vu likewise forms an important bridge between these musical communities.

Having previously collaborated with O'Leary in New York, Vu appeared on Waiting (2006), O'Leary's Samuel Beckett-inspired recording, which received exceptional critical acclaim, including recognition from both The Guardian and the BBC.

Vu would later contribute his unmistakable trumpet voice to Sunn O)))'s "Big Church (Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért)," one of the defining compositions on Monoliths & Dimensions.

Randall Dunn and Mell Dettmer

Producer Randall Dunn and engineer Mell Dettmer represent perhaps the most consistent thread connecting these recordings.

Their work on Zemlya helped shape its spacious, immersive sonic character. They would later bring the same sensitivity to Sunn O)))'s Kannon (2015), where Dunn also contributed Korg MS-20 synthesizer alongside his production work. Their ability to balance immense sonic weight with extraordinary clarity became a defining characteristic of both artists' recordings.

Critical Reception

Upon its release, Zemlya was widely recognised as a work that extended beyond conventional jazz language.

Writing in The Penguin Guide to Jazz, Brian Morton observed that there was "nothing earthbound about this music," describing O'Leary's guitar playing as seeking "something more elemental" while drawing comparisons with Brian Eno and Robert Fripp. He ultimately characterised the album as "a starkly beautiful record."

Elsewhere, Glenn Astarita of All About Jazz awarded the album four-and-a-half stars, naming it among the year's outstanding releases and praising its expressionistic sonic landscapes, particularly the interaction between O'Leary's guitar and Kang's contrapuntal viola writing.

The Free Jazz Collective likewise commended O'Leary's willingness to continually reinvent his artistic language, describing Zemlya as "a great listening experience."

The Lasting Resonance

The relationship between Mark O'Leary and Sunn O))) is not one of direct influence but of artistic convergence. Both emerged from overlapping communities centred around Aleph Studios, Randall Dunn, Mell Dettmer and an extraordinary network of musicians who moved freely between experimental jazz, contemporary composition, improvisation and drone.

Whether deploying ten Marshall amplifiers in pursuit of expansive harmonic fields or constructing monumental walls of drone through vintage Sunn amplifiers, both sought to explore sound as a physical, architectural and almost spiritual phenomenon.

In that sense, Zemlya and Sunn O)))'s major recordings can be understood as parallel achievements within the same broader avant-garde tradition: distinct artistic statements shaped by a shared creative environment, common collaborators and a mutual commitment to expanding the expressive possibilities of amplified sound.

Appendix I: The Seattle Constellation

One thing that isn't immediately obvious to readers is just how interconnected this community was.

You could include something like:

What appears, at first glance, to be a convergence between disparate musical traditions was, in reality, characteristic of Seattle's experimental music community during the early 2000s. Improvisers, contemporary classical composers, noise musicians and drone-metal artists frequently shared recording spaces, collaborators and production teams. Rather than existing as isolated genres, these musicians formed a porous creative network in which ideas migrated freely between jazz, minimalism, electroacoustic music, chamber composition and heavy music.

Mark O'Leary's work occupies an important position within this constellation. His collaborations with Eyvind Kang, Cuong Vu, Dylan van der Schyff, Randall Dunn and Mell Dettmer place him firmly inside one of the most fertile experimental communities of the period.

Appendix II: Sonic Philosophy

Despite the obvious differences in genre, O'Leary and Sunn O))) shared several fundamental compositional concerns:

• sustained harmonic resonance rather than conventional melody;

• the physical sensation of low frequencies;

• duration as structural form;

• timbre functioning as composition;

• amplification treated as an active musical instrument;

• an interest in ritual, atmosphere and psychological space.

These shared concerns place both artists within a broader lineage extending from La Monte Young, Éliane Radigue and Pauline Oliveros through to ambient music, electroacoustic improvisation and contemporary drone. 

Appendix III: Influence Map

                  LA MONTE YOUNG
                        │
                  TONY CONRAD
                        │
                   ALVIN LUCIER
                        │
              MINIMALISM / DRONE
                        │
        ┌───────────────┴───────────────┐
        │                               │
 Contemporary Music             Drone/Black Metal
        │                               │
  Mark O'Leary                    Sunn O)))
        │                               │
        ├───────────────┐───────────────┤
        │               │               │
   Eyvind Kang     Randall Dunn    Mell Dettmer
        │               │               │
   Cuong Vu------->ALEPH STUDIOS

This shows they're descendants of the same lineage instead of suggesting one influenced the other.

Appendix IV: Guardian Context

An intriguing historical footnote is that both O'Leary's Waiting and Sunn O)))'s Monoliths and Dimension were recognised by The Guardian among the most significant experimental recordings of the decade. Although emerging from different traditions, both demonstrated how adventurous music could dissolve the conventional boundaries separating jazz, composition, ambient music and extreme metal.

Appendix V: Randall Dunn as the Common Thread 

More than any single musician, producer Randall Dunn functioned as a catalytic figure within Seattle's experimental music community. His productions consistently dissolved stylistic boundaries, bringing together improvisers, contemporary composers, drone musicians and metal artists within the same recording environment. In this respect, Dunn was less a conventional producer than an architect of sonic ecosystems. Zemlya, Black One, Altar, Monoliths & Dimensions and Kannon all emerged from this broader philosophy of collaboration and acoustic exploration.