|
This is a wonderful followup to Lee's 1999 release, 'Water Birth' , also reviewed in AMP. Night Skies is recorded in a U-shaped tunnel, a World War One mortar magazine at Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, Washington. Shoemaker incorporates voice, a Tibetan singing bowl and a 'Moon harp' to create unusual, shimmering songs with magical reverberations, and succeeds admirably. In Lee's own words, "I am absolutely incapable of singing the same thing twice. My singing is a kind of spiritual quest. For thousands of years, people either have found or created resonant spaces to chant or sound their music. I search for places with long reverberations." Lee experiments with her voice, exploring it as an instrument, pioneering new possibilities for vocal music. She creates melodies in cavernous spaces that seem to float out of a drone. Karlheinz Stockhausen did something similar in his austere `Stimmung,' but Ms. Shoemaker's drones are luxurious and enveloping....The music basks in consonance, finding utopia in its drones. I find 'Night Skies' at once meditative, seemingly spontaneous in design, and carefully deliberated, the album plays like an introspective sojourn, of intimate and epic proportions. The composition, 'Cassiopeia' is a brilliant example. This album is yet another fascinating, very pleasurable exploration into the musical universe of the 'Tunnel Singer'. If you fell under the spell of 'Water Birth', Lee's last release, as I did, you will also be mesmerized and transported by 'Night Skies'. Shoemaker's compelling voice has such beauty and power that once heard, ...it is never forgotten. Review by Ben Kettlewell information: |
 BACK TO REVIEW DIRECTORY |
|
|
The Tunnel Singer (Lee Ellen
Shoemaker)