Marty O’Reilly & the Old Soul Orchestra

From the moment they step foot on a stage, Marty O’Reilly & the Old Soul Orchestra blast off on a transformative journey that sweeps up everyone in their vicinity. To be a passenger on this cosmic ride is to realize that you’re headed somewhere you’ve never imagined, and whatever your expectations may have been, they will be surpassed. Together, the band creates a mechanism so magical that it’s difficult to decipher exactly how everything is coming to be. The lines separating the musicians, their instruments, and their music somehow recede to reveal an undefinable force that stimulates every possible sense. One could wax poetic for a lifetime and fail to accurately describe the experience. When, finally, artist and audience come out on the other side, they do so as one, often literally standing side by side and reveling in the change that will continue to pulse as the night’s final grains sift through the glass. While music may be limitless, the band seems intent on exploring those outermost reaches, and unlike most who blaze trail into the unknown, they manage to take everyone along with them.

Absolute Value

Absolute Value is the pursuit of life through music. There is no delineation between the two. Each instrumental expression, each vocal ascent, each carefully assembled song embodies the artist’s attempt to listen and contribute to the surrounding world. The songs are the purest form of the mind and body that created them, and rarely do we as an audience get to delve so deeply into the essence of the musicians before us. The music conveys an intimacy both pristine and innately fragile, as if we have been ushered into a vault of such cherished importance that we dare not disturb it. We listen. We feel. We see the movement and recognize that it requires every ounce of the musical architect to produce an offering that we get to experience together. When Absolute Value assembles as a full band, the result is no less intimate. Instead, we witness multiple people focused succinctly on the same purpose, free from ego or pretense, the band's many limbs weaving the complex expression of love that forms the music’s foundation. Each song is a love song, for without love, there is no song. Without love, there is no life. Absolute Value wraps up all three along with the notion that even when we fall short, we strive and we yearn and we grapple to attain that which defines us. Together, we try, and therein lies the value.