#4650, Preachers and Spirituals
Hear works built on the sounds of preachers and the sounds of traditional American Spirituals, often wildly, unusually recast. Listen to new music by multi-instrumentalist Jake Blount, pedal steel from DaShawn Hickman, and male soprano M. Lamar.
Listen to music by multi-instrumentalist and scholar Jake Blount, who on his latest album, The New Faith (coming in September 2022), posits a post-climate apocalypse America in which folks are struggling, and further imagines what Black spirituals would sound like in this extreme context. Then, hear pedal steel player DaShawn Hickman’s epic version of “Just A Closer Walk With Thee,” which looks to West African music with its use of the shekere, djembe, bongos, tambourine, and cowbell.
There’s also music from composer and male soprano M. Lamar which casts the African-American spiritual, “Lay this Body Down” in a metal goth veil. M Lamar’s version is “Oh, Graveyard,” a lament framed by electronic textures composed by Liturgy’s Hunter Hunt-Hendrix and one that is aptly described by its album title Funeral Doom Spiritual.
Plus, hear Steve Reich's classic "It's Gonna Rain”, playing back the voice of a preacher man, punk-proggy chamber rock versions of spirituals from Boston band Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, and more. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4650, Preachers and Spirituals
ARTIST: Steve Reich / Kronos Quartet
WORK: Steve Reich: It's Gonna Rain, Part 1 [1:17]
RECORDING: Works 1965-1995
SOURCE: Nonesuch #79451
INFO: nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Jake Blount
WORK: Once There Was No Sun [4:22]
RECORDING: The New Faith
SOURCE: Folkways, due out Sept. 23, 2022
INFO: https://jakeblount.com/the-new-faith
ARTIST: Birdsongs of the Mesozoic & Oral Moses
WORK: A Little More Faith in Jesus [4:42]
RECORDING: Extreme Spirituals
SOURCE: Cuneiform #241
INFO: cuneiformrecords.com
ARTIST: M. Lamar, with Hunter Hunt-Hendrix
WORK: Oh, Graveyard [8:01]
RECORDING: Funeral Doom Spiritual
SOURCE: Negrogothic
INFO: Available at Amazon.com, Apple Music, Spotify
ARTIST: David Byrne & Brian Eno
WORK: Help Me Somebody [4:17]
RECORDING: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
SOURCE: Nonesuch #79894
INFO: nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Lights in a Fat City
WORK: When I Go Up (I Feel Like Shouting) [6:38]
RECORDING: Somewhere
SOURCE: City of Tribes Records CTR 8005 2
INFO: Available at Amazon.com
ARTIST: DaShawn Hickman
WORK: Just A Closer Walk With Thee [7:50]
RECORDING: Drums, Roots & Steel
SOURCE: The Little Village Foundation
INFO: Available at AppleMusic, Spotify, YouTube, Tidal
ARTIST: Birdsongs of the Mesozoic & Oral Moses
WORK: Oh Freedom [4:42]
RECORDING: Extreme Spirituals
SOURCE: Cuneiform #241
INFO: cuneiformrecords.com
ARTIST: San Francisco Symphony; Edo de Waart, conductor
WORK: John Adams: Christian Zeal & Activity [4:27]
RECORDING: Earbox 10 CD set
SOURCE: Nonesuch #79435
INFO: www.nonesuch.com
