Birdsongs of the Mesozoic with Oral Moses - Extreme Spirituals

SKU RUNE241
For their 13th album and in their 25th year together, post-punk, art-rock pioneers Birdsongs of the Mesozoic do a 180 degree musical swerve and link up with bass-baritone vocalist Oral Moses, one of the preeminent African-American performers of traditional spirituals. The band demolish all preconceptions about themselves by presenting a program of heavily rearranged, well known African-American spirituals and 19th century art songs. The blend of Birdsongs' cutting-edge instrumentation with the strength and majesty of Moses' voice creates a very unorthodox yet deeply moving sound, which The Noise called, "Totally sublime and deeply moving." This collaboration represents a new experiment from all parties - something of a meeting at the crossroads between two creative parties passing in very different directions. Together they bring these centuries-old songs kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
"These aren't just African-American songs - these are American songs."-Oral Moses.
  • LabelCuneiform
Your Price $15.00
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The trademark Birdsongs sound swirls around Moses' full-bodied, old-fashioned Sunday-morning-gospel approach to the songs, creating a thing that is less (anointing) oil and (holy) water than a sanctified Lava Lamp in full psychedelic Pentecostal swing. Bartoky rhythms and dissonances abound, atonality and polytonality simmer beneath the deep baritone singing, but the words and the settings always work together. There is never any effort to cynically mistreat the message in the lyrics, nor does the religious aspect ever drag the project into the boring arena of traditional "Contemporary Gospel". Weird as it is, the spirit is right, and from somewhere beyond the Pearly Gates we may be sure Saints Ives, Sun Ra and Milhaud send their blessings. Really nice.
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