When I'm not cleaning out my office cabinets and unearthing 20-year-old CDs of my former collection of MP3s or following whatever rabbit hole NTS radio is leading me down or just plain listening to what I feel like hearing at that moment, I'm keeping up with the newest music releases according to Spotify's weekly Release Radar and NPR's New Music Fridays. I overlook some 90% of what both sources offer each week and selectively add my own picks from the lists to my personal Newest Shit playlist.
This week, I added the latest LPs from Deradoorian (Ready for Heaven), Kara-Lis Coverdale (From Where You Came), and Arcade Fire (Pink Elephant), as well as a single (My Love Will Bring You Home) by beloved indie-pop band Allo Darlin.
I also added the album Electric Fields by David Chalmin and the Labèque sisters, along with soprano Barbara Hannigan. Electric Fields consists of modern arrangements of centuries-old vocal music, including compositions by the German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and medical practitioner Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179), also known as the Sibyl of the Rhine. Hildegard is one of the best-known composers of medieval sacred music and is considered by many to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany. Her texts were written both in Latin and her own invented lingua ignota. Neurologist Oliver Sacks expressed the opinion that her mystical visions were the result of migraines while not discounting the polymathic brilliance of her many contributions to the arts and science.
O Virga Mediatrix was meant by Hildegard to accompany the singing of the gospel at mass, and is but one of Hildegard’s meditations on the Virgin Mary’s role in salvation. It is the opening track on Electric Fields and showcases Hannigan's voice and the keyboards of Katia and Marielle.
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