hymns
I didn’t forget, and I didn’t give up on this. But I’ve been pretty busy.
Hymns are a really specific musical form. I feel deeply unqualified to speak on defining features or anything like that, but I grew up going to church every Sunday, one which had a bona-fide world-class organist, so singing hymns was one of the better parts of the experience.
Everything about hymns is massive, even setting aside the religious content (which tends to go big as well). They require many people joining together for their full effect. A pipe organ is an engineering feat as much as it is an instrument, filling an entire wall of a structure. It doesn’t surprise me, then, that some of the songs on this playlist come from people with metal sensibilities. Metal tends to be associated with anti-religious sentiment, but it is a genre that appreciates scale; the most common adjective to go along with metal is “heavy” after all.
I included the first part of “Night of Your Ascension”, by Wrekmeister Harmonies, with high female voices (including Marissa Nadler) singing harmonies dolefully over organ and occasional plucked strings. In later parts (not on the playlist) bass rumbles start in, male vocals groan, and eventually the low end takes over entirely, changing things to a guitar-and-yelling march. It’s a shorter journey than you might think.
I’ve written about Lingua Ignota before, which partially inspired this playlist. Her first album was a hymnal with a lot of overt metal touches; I described it as “Diamanda Galás meets Sunn O)))”. Her second, recently-released album CALIGULA plays closer to something you could perform in church. “FRAGRANT IS MY MANY FLOWER’D CROWN” is mostly just piano and her voice, with backing choral harmonies, occasional timpani hits, and every so often a vocal technique that reminds me of throat-singing. The lyrics remain vengeful and dark, with talk of heavy-swinging hammers and sorrow only God knows, but you could miss that if you weren’t paying attention. Lingua Ignota is performing at Zebulon on Monday, November 25th, and I’ll probably be checking it out. I expect it to be a singular experience.
The least hymn-like song on here is “The Origin of My Depression”, by Uboa. It’s more of an experimental electronic/industrial piece, but the whole thing carries on over tubular bells and group voices, so it still feels of a piece with the other songs to me. It starts with quiet swells of chimes, arhythmic wordless coos, and passionless inventories of the things that are not the origin of her depression, but eventually the voices and bells accumulate to the point of becoming discordant, and by then she is screaming accusations of what is the origin of her depression. The whole album is scouring; the album art is a picture from her hospital bed post-suicide-attempt, and with songs like “Detransitioning”, “Epilation Joy”, and “Please Don’t Leave Me”, she was clearly going through Some Things. (I don’t often read artist interviews, but from here there is a quote: “I might prefer it if people didn’t find it confronting and challenging, even if it is a cry for help, because I want people to listen rather than turn away in shock.”) The album also contains a song called “An Angel of Great and Terrible Light”, so the religious vibe is not entirely in my head.
This playlist isn’t all darkness though. They Might Be Giants sing a weird meditation on having a deep booming voice and being one thousand years old. John Maus sings a genuine (as far as I can tell) ode to Jesus, but of course it sounds like something from a religious VHS tape from the ‘80s, as is his wont. Here, someone made a fan video that captures exactly what I mean:
“Gillie Amma I Love You” loops and layers children’s voices into something ethereal and lovely. (Yes I put it on one of my other playlists, but dammit it fits here.) And I end things on “Donimo”, possibly Cocteau Twins’ most triumphant song. The first couple of minutes sound like a Gregorian chant, with Elizabeth Fraser incanting over an organ in full glossolalia mode. The theme is repeated a few times and then everything but the organ falls away before a joyful burst of bells and drums and voice takes the song into a new register. The vocals become call-and-response, but the initial theme carries throughout the song. There are drum hits of the very 80’s super-punchy fast-fading variety (I’ve learned this is gated reverb) which keep the proceedings sparkling rather than hazy. It’s all very lovely.
Track listing:
“O Do Not Forsake Me”, They Might Be Giants, John Henry
“Tenebrae”, John Maus, Love Is Real
“Night of Your Ascension (Part 1)”, Wrekmeister Harmonies, Night of Your Ascension
“Gillie Amma I Love You”, Four Tet, Late Night Tales: Jon Hopkins
“FRAGRANT IS MY MANY FLOWER’D CROWN”, Lingua Ignota, CALIGULA
“The Origin of My Depression”, Uboa, The Origin of My Depression
“Donimo”, Cocteau Twins, Treasure
uh, my next playlist is much lighter throughout I promise