Shout - On Arrival
SKU
00-CARBON7-051
"This is the first CD by "The Shout", an 18-piece British choir, or 'vocal big band' as they call themselves, formed in 1998 by the composers Richard Chew and Orlando Gough (of "The Lost Jockey" fame).
The singers come from the most varied of backgrounds - gospel, jazz, blues, contemporary classical, opera, Indian music - and the group includes several improvisers. It has been called a 'vocal big band', a 'club choir', a 'vocal stomp' a 'dangerous choir' and a 'choir of Babel'. It is all of these things. The Shout is a group whose personalities are revealed by the music and who are given the freedom to sing solos and improvise, and yet it is a group capable of a homogeneous effort. It explores the possibilities of both 18 individuals and of a single voice with 18 components."
"The sounds and styles it embraces are amazingly wide ... all the singers enjoy playing with sound and exploring the possibilities of the human voice. They perform with rhythmic verve and spitfire articulation, and as in any good choir, they can blend seamlessly, but a smooth beautiful fusion of sound is not what The Shout is all about."-The Times, London.
"There is something intoxicating about music like this. The Shout show us that there are many new things to be done with the voice, and that innovation doesn't have to be driven by technology, or anything more than a basic urge to make music, by opening your mouth, taking a deep breath and letting rip."-The Independent, London.
"This all sounds pretty damn impressive, mixing perfect operatic timbre with gospel, blues, down & dirty jazz growling, and a nice line in multi-lingual Philip Glass-style wonky repetition. They shout, yelp, bellow, croon, trill, and positively soar, harmonising like a flock of disparate songbirds caught in full voice at daybreak near an exotic watering hole."-Making Music, London