Evensong By Kevin Keller

 

Evensong

By

Kevin Keller

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

Many moons have passed since a Kevin Keller album has come my way, but here on this latest album entitled Evensong we delve into the realm of a vocal styled collection of songs which mark the time of a day, and pays homage to Hildegard of Bingen in the 12th century with regard to the melodies that can be found within the expansive and exploratory album.

Evensong by Kevin Keller is a true mix of old and new, past and present, with each track entitled Evensong and numbered concurrently, we journey through an album of great textures and colours, and of course of sublime tone and timbre.

From the starting point, through to the conclusion we are gifted a journey of perhaps a day, perhaps even a lifetime with each arrangement, from the illustrious vibrations of the opening piece, through to the more electronic styled structures of track two and onward to the concluding opus of depth and a vastness of resonance.

The album also utilises the vocal talents of the following artists Katherine Wessinger, Danya Katok, Elisa Singer Strom, and Wendy Baker as sopranos, and instrumentational crafted performances can also be found by Sarah Zun violin and Angela Pickett on viola, whilst Laura Metcalf can be found on cello, Keller himself manifests moments of musical magic using string sections, organs and piano in a totally unique and ground breaking presentation.

I have truly never heard anything as unique and inventive as this, the eight tracks upon this release create their own weave through a gentle electronic vibrational arrangement, into a neo-classically styled ethic, whilst the harmonic transcendence of the vocals reminds me of religious rhythms of years past, with flavours of a Gregorian chant mixed into the said narrative.

The modern mixture of musical nuances weaved into a tapestry of 9^th to 10^th century styled sacred songs is without doubt one of the most innovative melodic historical reinventions you will have seen and heard, and one that should capture the listeners imagination and desire to source a uniqueness of tone, and as such I feel that Evensong by Kevin Keller is an album that will be sought out by musical aficionados in search of compositions of great quality and tone.