David T. Little & Royce Vavrek, Am I Born, Mellissa Hughes, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Novus NY

 

As I put in the living time of someone with a lifespan longer than some others, I increasingly am filled with some awe and respect for the historicity of given locales, so in the last few years I have pondered the long spans of history for Hackensack and now Cape May. There is a new, ambitious and rather stunning work recently recorded and released that I am appreciating. It relates to my thoughts in the last decade or so, in that it is about the long transform of history, in this case the patch of land in Brooklyn eventually to be torn down to make way for the Brooklyn Bridge. The music was written by David T. Little, the words by Royce Vavrek. It is entitled Was I Born (Bright Shiny Things 0152).

This is diatonic post-Minimalist lyricism beautifully realized by soprano Mellissa Hughes, the always ravishing Trinity Choir of Wall Street and the nicely resonant chamber orchestra Novus NY.

The music teams up with the lyrics to linger with thought and feeling on the uncanniness of time unfolding beneath our very everyday existences.

And with that there is a fragile beauty to it all, a touching introspective ruminating, ultimately on how every moment is in some ways shot through with history.

It is every bit as lovely as your deep memory dreams might be if all is right. Listen to this by all means. It deserves a place among striking Contemporary Modern works of our recent times. Highly recommended.