Kevin Braheny

KEVIN BRAHENY studied composition at Vandercooke College of Music in Chicago, then moved to Los Angeles in the mid 1970's, where he began doing soundtrack work. Shortly afterwards, he started working with Malcolm Cecil (one-half of the legendary pioneer Moog duo, TONTO). He continued to hone his woodwind and keyboard skills while working as a sound engineer, and in 1980 he self-released his first solo album Lullaby for the Hearts of Space. He was the first signing on the nascent Hearts of Space label in 1984 with The Way Home. Later HOS solo releases include Galaxies (1988) and Secret Rooms (1990). His skills as an audio engineer are especially apparent on the latter, which contains striking binaural 3-D sound effects on the passages linking musical pieces.
Braheny is as adept at crafting instruments as he is at creating gorgeous melodies, having built many of the instruments used on his four Hearts of Space solo releases. This includes the "Mighty Serge" modular analog synthesizer, fashioned from a design by Serge Tcherepnin and assembled in 1977, and his trademark Steiner EWI, which he built from the original design by Nyle Steiner. In addition to Rain, his 1995 collaboration with TIM CLARK, Braheny also joined forces with STEVE ROACH and RICHARD BURMER for Western Spaces in 1987, and with Roach and MICHAEL STEARNS for Desert Solitaire in 1989.