Ryan Sawyer's Shaker Ensemble - For Those Who Wish to Sing Will Always Find a Song (2025, Lobby Art)

full stream: https://lobbyartrecs.bandcamp.com/album/for-those-who-wish-to-sing-will-always-find-a-song

One night, not too long ago at Union Pool in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Ryan Sawyer introduced his piece, “For Those Who Wish to Sing, Will Always Find a Song.” He invited the audience to sing along at any point they felt moved to, “just abstract ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs,’ or ‘oms,’ or whatever.” The small stage was crowded with musicians – The Shaker Ensemble – which that night included Jessica Pavone on viola, Nate Wooley on trumpet, Laura Cocks on flute, Stuart Bogie on clarinet, cellist Lester St. Louis, Henry Fraser on double bass, and Sawyer playing maracas.They’d all be singing, too.

The first moments of the performance move like mist, solidifying gradually into more knowable sounds: A reedy hum becomes a human voice; another human’s voice morphs into a bright, breathy flutter of the flute. A low mechanical whirring strengthens into a warm trumpet’s strain; strings murmur and groan and blossom. Vocals and instruments blend with one another, twisting around the crisp rhythmic clatter of the maracas. There are stretches of soft menace – one imagines a rattlesnake stalking a chattering aviary, or a ritual performed in a storm – but ultimately the verdant, hallucinatory wilderness that flourishes across the runtime is a site of emotional... more
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released October 3, 2025