I nearly gave up on this album on first listen, but after learningmore about the context, things fell into place and I quickly became fascinatedby it. Across 11 tracks and in styles that range from dancey techno tocrazed piano, Rehearsing My Choir covers the life of bandmatesand siblings Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger's grandmother, withGrandma herself providing much of the vocals. Rough Trade
The story of Olga Sarantos' life is fractured and initially hard tofollow because the album doesn't follow a linear timeline. Instead ofbeing a biography set to music, it's more like listening to someonereminisce, telling stories as they come to mind with music accenting,harmonizing with, and clashing against Olga's spoken words andEleanor's sung ones. They speak and sing of loves lost and found, gypsycurses, war, death, and family tensions. The music itself is difficultto describe, as it's abstract and by turns harsh and gentle.
Rehearsing My Choir is definitely a concept album and not one toload onto the iPod and hit shuffle. Take the time to listen through andpay attention to fully appreciate to beauty and loss of one woman'slife told in a beautiful and unusual way.
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