The Ascendant, an EP by Roomful of Teeth, music by Wally Gunn
I need to read a copy of the poet Maria Zajkowski's book, The Ascendant
After I heard Caroline Shaw’s Partita for 8 Voices, I quickly grabbed another couple of albums by her ensemble, Roomful of Teeth. The Ascendant was the third recording of theirs that I heard. Initially, only one track stood out to me, track five, “No. 5, Are We Death.” Eventually, the last track, “No. 6, Surviving Death,” grabbed my attention. And now, I am finally drawn to the entire recording.
The music was written by Wally Gunn, who used a series of poems, called The Ascendant, by Maria Zajkowski, for the text to be set to music. He talks about that here:
https://www.wallygunn.com/music/theascendant/
Maria Zajkowski’s page and the publisher’s page for the book The Ascendant are located here:
https://mariazajkowski.com/the-ascendant/ https://puncherandwattmann.com/product/the-ascendant/
The album begins with a single line that is soon joined by a polyphonic countermelody. Just as I get accustomed to their interplay, many more of the voices of the vocal group, Roomful of Teeth, bloom in the air in a moment. I think I hear the distinctive alto of Caroline Shaw leading the harmony. And what a harmony. There is not a hair out of place.
In the second track, we get some percussion, and the harmony is slightly dissonant in a repeating figure, while another two or three voices in the front stay smooth and sonorous. Much of this does not seem to be English. Some is, and as the track develops, more voices gradually tend toward clear intelligibility. I have not obtained a copy of the chapbook, and so the lyrics are largely a mystery to me. There is heavy reverb on the percussion and on the vocals.
Track three begins with a repeating vocable pattern that sounds like the word “banana.” Alto voice glisses up and down almost like an ambulance siren. Key to the album is the middle of this track. I think there is some harmonizing in perfect fifths as the words, “The ascendant has left,” are sung. Harmonized altos and higher take up the original repeating vocables while the lower voices do some glissing. “Repeating the unsayable” are the words repeatedly at the end of the track.
Track four has polyphonic vocables that give a supporting structure for the male voice to speak clearly but cryptically. There is powerful harmony between verses, probably fifths in the lower voices. There are powerful outbursts punctuated by cymbal strikes and vigorous drum-set patterns. Then things settle a bit, and the voices are more polyphonic and the drum takes to its original (beginning of track two) rhythmic pattern.
Track five has the theme of a kind of dying that comes as a sort of relief. The following track is titled “Surviving Death,” and this track, track five, contemplates a condition in which the speakers can hardly tell what is happening to them. The track title, “Are We Death,” written without punctuation, suggests such a quandary of unknowing.
The beautiful overlap of the layers of vocal lines and harmonies is the climax of the album for me, and is probably why this track appealed to me first, before the others.
Track six, “Surviving Death,” begins with strong voices and no words. Long notes create an aureal wall. In come a procession of Gregorian monks, chanting. And then altos describe the state after death, where “we” send horses that don’t come back. I am reminded of Hiroshi Murakami’s novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.There are unicorns and people separated from their shadows, inhabiting a world that seems to be beyond death. The albums ends without a finale. I have come to love this album and can easily listen to it in one session.
Happy listening! 😄