Sarah Davachi - The Head as Form'd in the Crier's Choir

Another ambitious undertaking from Sarah Davachi with this new double LP issued via her own Late Music imprint. This is a BIG record whichever way you choose to approach it, conceptually, sonically, as an actual object (and I don't mean it's a 13" disc...). The 'choir' of the title is a signpost to Davachi's thinking, the music written as ensemble and solo pieces for organ, strings, trombone, woodwind, voice and 'electronics' (a vague but compelling assignation) - a choir of sound, if you like. Davachi's clearly spinning a lot of plates, but the music is nothing if not patient and controlled, a slowly unfolding series of sonorous drones that's as emotionally imposing as it is physical. You will feel this music in your chest, one way or another. The myth of Orpheus, as imagined in both Riike's poetry and Monteverdi's 17th century opera, informs Davachi's conceptual approach, which tells you a lot about the overall intention - romantic, grandiose, ultimately fated. There are many other ways to understand music, but as a trio it's no bad combination when you're making music of such nuanced gestural power.