music
Or, the Whale album review
Shaw/Yee(Platoon)These eight tracks, a mix of new compositions and arrangements of existing work, are tender and imaginative
TL;DR
- The album "Or, the Whale" is an eight-track collaboration between Caroline Shaw and Andrew Yee.
- It is inspired by Wu Tsang's 2022 silent film version of Moby-Dick, for which Shaw and Yee provided the score.
- The music combines cello, electronics, and vocals, evoking the novel and whale song.
- "The Trees of Green-Wood" features Shaw singing a catalogue of trees organized by trunk diameter.
- A duet "Shenandoah" is an arrangement of the traditional shanty.
- A movement from Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time" replaces piano with a vocal harmoniser.
- A repurposed early work by Shaw incorporates audio snippets of quilters from North Carolina.
- The album is characterized by artistic intimacy and joy in the music-making.