The bellowing strength of collective volume, the colliding harmonies, the concentrated enunciation of practiced singers, the awkward sustain and ardent timbres, the melodrama. Choirs give me the chills. They produce a windy texture that only human voices in unison can.
The playlist starts with selections from projects by contemporary artists, followed by choral interpretations of pop songs and then a few choral performances used in pop songs, and finally recordings of school choirs performing nostalgic covers.
1. "One, One Two One"
by Red Hook High School Choir, From This Is Us, a project by Jeremy Deller. Part of a CD-as-exhibition-project by Rob Blackson, Deller visited the town of Red Hook, NY to record the idiosyncratic music talents of a small town.
2. "Wife of a Hero" and "Working Title (The Name Game)"
by the Murphy Canyon Choir, a project by Althea Thauberger. Commissioned for a public art series in San Diego, the choir was formed by spouses of active-duty military personnel living in Murphy Canyon. During a six month long process the women participated in song-writing workshops leading up to a public choral performance at the military base.
3. "Gabriola Complaints Choir"
part of a project started by the Finnish artists Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen. Gabriola is an island off the Coast of British Columbia, Canada.
4. "Man in The Mirror"
by Effussion from McGill University in Montreal, recorded for a film project by Leigh Davis. Davis has been working closely with a variety of performers on media-based collaborations.
5. "Mongoloid"
by Popchor Berlin. A Devo cover from a 25 member Berlin based choir.
6. "Fantasma"
by Cornelius. This is the title, and final track on his kaleidoscopic album from 1998. The only track in the playlist where all the voices are produced by a single person.
7. "You Can't Always Get What You Want"
by London Bach Choir (for the Stones) recorded by a choir-for-hire that has worked on several film soundtracks.
8. "Believe in Something"
by Vancouver based Choir Practice. One of the few successful combinations of choral music and indie pop.
9. "Good Vibrations"
by the Langley School Music Project. A classic cover of the Beach Boys anthem, recorded by instructor Hans Fenger in the 70s.
10. "Livin' Thing"
by the Dondero High School Choir. Several years of recordings from the high school are available via the Internet Archive. This symphonic ELO track works well in choral translation.
Collected by Joseph del Pesco
