Moira Smiley & VOCO *

Circle square diamond and flag (2008 EP)



The title of this album refers to the notation used in shape-note music. Shape-note singing bloomed in New England between 1790 and 1830. It was written by mostly itinerant, rural composers with driving rhythm, un-sentimental lyrics and the use of “fa so la” solfege (to teach sight-singing). This program won the support of a Meet The Composer “Creative Connections” grant.

This live-recorded EP is a fierce, fearless celebration of four voices raised together in a beautiful room. Banjo & cello lay down the groove and the still landscape for the weaving voices.

This is powerful, emotional music with lush four-part vocal harmony and delicious vaudevillian combo of cello, accordion and banjo. Original improvisation-built songs steeped in Appalachia and Eastern Europe. Voted #1 a cappella band in the U.S. in 2007, VOCO is the energy of street singing and the elegance of a string quartet.

This is manna for hungry ears, and a wholesome antidote for postmodern exhaustion. If you are a lover of pure and vibrant sounds, you will be fed by this music. There are special treats for fans of traditional americana, irish & bulgarian folk, body percussion, etc. It's also very well recorded and mixed with amazing reverb. VOCO takes ancient melodies and tonalities and pushes them right to the edges of modern imagination. This album has a broad tonal and cultural range. It's in the very, very small group of albums I know that are able to transcend their own genres with that humble, but total artistic mastery you only get from years of sweat.

Moira Smiley and VOCO are about the voice-as-instrument singing post-folk, improvisation-built ditties, ballads and dance songs. VOCO is Mouth Music and Soul. VOCO goes where the voice dances.

VOCO is the energy of street singing, the risks of improvisation with lush harmony and crooked rhythm. They sing the amazing spectrum of the voice with unrivaled integrity and playfulness. Singing old and new song, VOCO draws on the wild, dark influences of Eastern Europe and Appalachia and the joyous, rebellious spirit of Soul and “mouth” music - music that mourns and dances at the same time.

This wonderful 8-song EP is presented as "a collection of Modal Americana made up of old tunes and new spirituals...". From the opening version of the legendary Kate Wolf's "Carolina Pines" to the final track, "Africa", written by William Billings in 1770, this gem of a recording combines traditional shape-note singing and Appalachian folk tunes with modern folk music and original composition.
Note: Some tracks are sung a cappella, while others are enhanced by exceptional instrumental accompaniment.


TrackListings:

01. Carolina Pines (Kate Wolf)
02. Bring Me Little Water, Silvy (Huddy Ledbetter, arr. Moira Smiley)
03. Garden Hymn (anonymous, text by Isaac Watts)
04. Return My Soul (music by Moira Smiley, text from a 19th century hymnal)
05. The Cuckoo (Appalachian dance song)
06. Parting Friends (traditional shape-note hymn from 1868, adapted and arranged by Moira Smiley)
07. Wondrous Love (shape note hymn, from William Walker's Southern Harmony of 1853)
08. Africa (William Billings, Isaac Watts)

Ripped @ 320 kbps CBR




Download:

Code: 

Download Link