In a major departure from her usual folk-pop, Leah Abramson’s latest is a somewhat experimental multi-media project. Not the most promising opening sentence to be sure but the results, while mixed, are sometimes inspiring and on one occasion transcendent. It was originally written for a Masters of Fine Art thesis and there is an accompanying graphic novel available, which, judging by the images available online is gorgeous.
As the title suggests, the eight pieces here concern whales and are indeed sung from the whales’ perspective. Interspersed amongst them are fragments of whale song as well as subtle beats and loops. Transcendence arrives right at the end with ‘The Lost, The Gone’, where the human and the orca sounds merge into a glorious symphony. Some of the other piece pale by comparison and lack the same ambition but all are worth hearing and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Innovation and originality is never not a good thing and this is a worthwhile diversion from Abramson’s usual path.
Summary
Left-field project celebrating whales from Canadian singer-songwriter
