Best known as a composer of choral and instrumental music,
Ola Gjeilo frequently performs on his recordings as an accompanist. However, for this 2020 Decca release,
Gjeilo is the soloist, playing piano on all 18 tracks, and the character of
Night is one of simple tonal melodies and quiet atmosphere. A song impulse runs throughout the album, at times making this collection seem rather in need of lyrics and a vocalist who could bring real expression to the music. As it stands, though,
Night lacks the focus that texts could give it, and the triadic harmonies, rolling arpeggios, and gentle, slowly spun out melodies offer little sense of direction. A quick sample of titles, such as Firefly, Sleepless, Still, City Lights, Night Rain, and so on, give a fair idea of what
Gjeilo is trying to achieve, and his fairly uniform touch and avoidance of dramatic strokes makes this album suitable as inobtrusive background music. ~ Blair Sanderson