In one sense, this eight-track collaboration between Pulitzer prize-winning composer-vocalist Caroline Shaw and Grammy award-winning cellist-composer Andrew Yee is a snapshot of a friendship. The title – Or, the Whale – comes from Melville’s Moby-Dick, and in particular from director Wu Tsang’s 2022 silent film version for which Shaw and Yee provided the score. A condensed suite combines cello, electronics and ethereal vocals in a haunting, folk-infused evocation of the novel, whale song and all.
Imaginative Compositions
Much here is similarly imaginative. Yee’s uplifting The Trees of Green-Wood channels Meredith Monk as Shaw sings a catalogue of trees organised by diameter of trunk: the greater the girth, the louder the music. Sophisticated processing and intricate engineering, crucial elements throughout, add to the heady aural atmosphere. Another duet, Shenandoah, is a tender, exploratory arrangement of the traditional shanty.
Central Performances
Shaw’s versatile vocals and Yee’s emotive cello are at the centre of everything. An outlier movement from Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time finds Messiaen’s piano replaced with a vocal harmoniser, while a repurposed early work by Shaw incorporates audio snippets of quilters living in North Carolina. Like everything here, the feeling of artistic intimacy and joy in the music-making is palpable.
These eight tracks, a mix of new compositions and arrangements of existing work, are tender and imaginative. The album offers a rich blend of folk, classical, and electronic elements, showcasing the deep musical rapport between Shaw and Yee.
