In the key of light

　 Dustin O"Halloran plays at The One Club on Friday, April 8. Photo: James Tiscione

For a pianist and composer with synesthesia, the color blue sounds pretty good.

"When I got to Beijing there were blue skies, which you don"t see too often," said soft-spoken Dustin O"Halloran on stage at the 718 Art Zone"s The One Club on Friday. "I took that as an omen."

Fresh off a China tour last October with his longtime dream-pop project Devics, LA-born turned Berliner O"Halloran returns with a piano program of placid cinematic textures and glass-like harmonies for 13 dates to promote his third and most ambitious release, Lumiere.

The concert also included a two-song sneak-peek of O"Halloran"s new project, A Winged Victory For The Sullen, a minimalist collaboration with guitarist Adam Wiltzie from band Stars of the Lid, who also appears on the album.

And despite even a simple piano proving to be a challenge for Beijing"s slew of second-rate soundmen as crackling speakers, dropped mics and Wiltzie"s equipment issues threatened the hour-long show, O"Halloran remained poised during his program of past and new works, a unique mix of melodious Chopin nocturnes, airy impressionist harmonies and minimalist ostinati.

Although most recently recognized for scoring Like Crazy, a Grand Jury Prize recipient at this year"s Sundance Film Festival, O"Halloran is refreshingly humble, downplaying his self-taught piano ability with almost every mention.

"I was always writing for myself and never planned to release a solo piano record at all. It felt strange," he explained.

Not a strong technical player, O"Halloran"s strength lies in dynamics and touch to evoke color in his pieces.

"When I started, I was really isolated and I didn"t know anybody about there," O"Halloran explained backstage. "It wasn"t until my first record was reviewed at the same time as Gonzales" (born multi-instrumentalist Jason Beck) I realized there was a global consciousness and that things were starting to shift."

Unknown to him at the time, O"Halloran had joined a recent wave of modern classical artists such as Jóhann Jóhannsson, Peter Broderick and Max Richter, a small but growing collective which he attributes to a serendipitous global movement.

"There are these moments where people happen to be together - like Philip Glass, Steve Reich and Moondog, in NYC, all recording in Glass" apartment while he was still in school."

Although there has been a modern classical push in China by labels such as Pocket Records and Erased Tapes, O"Halloran explains this shift is more apparent in Europe, especially in Berlin, and is more causal than collective consciousness.

"Everything is so saturated with rock, everybody"s in a rock band," explained the former guitarist, "I wanted to do something that felt more pure, something that doesn"t revolve around image and trends that fade so fast."