Sarah Davachi: The Head As Form​’​d In The Crier​’​s Choir (digital, Late Music, September 2024)

Oh wow oh wow oh wow. This is astonishing work from Davachi. If you are into pipe organ-heavy drone then it is must listen. Actually, I think it’s a must relisten, because it’s easy to miss stuff the first time around. The album is just over an hour and a half long, so I realize this is quite a time commitment, but I’m pretty sure you won’t regret it. (And, hey, it’s still only half as long as that Kali Malone record last year.)

I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again: this is the kind of drone which is all about the harmonics. I attended the virtual listening party on bandcamp, and it was fascinating to read the great woman herself in the live chat. The main takeaway is that she is a massive geek about organs, acoustic, music theory, and alternative tunings. I have only a very superficial understanding of any of that, but I am intensely happy that she is, because the results are awe-inspiring. (The other nugget from the stream is that she is fond of prog rock, in particular King Crimson!) Much of this is played on various pipe organs (either solo or, on one track, joined by a string duo and a wonderfully ethereal chamber choir) and the interactions between the playing and the instruments and the rooms are key to the chemistry. Elsewhere we get mellotrons, synths, a brass duo, and a wind quintet: the sense of resonance and the room permeates them all.

Some of the organ work reminds me of Claire M Singer (who she describes as a dear friend). The brass put me in mind of Lea Bertucci’s Acoustic Shadows (which is also all about the room — or, in that case, the bridge). Oddly, one thing which didn’t come into my head was Gave In Rest, the last Davachi album I bought. (She’s released a lot of records in between, which I never really gave the attention they deserved — which is my bad, although I will note that she’s very prolific and, as I say, this stuff does require an investment of time.)

But the references are kind of a distraction because this has a subtle magic all of its own. It sounds amazing played loud on the good headphones. It sounds amazing played quietly on the good hifi. It sounds more amazing with each listen. Wow.

I bought this from the artist’s bandcamp page.