This is the third album of the stars/astronomy related trilogy ... and it's my favorite one. It has just the right mix of melodic elements and what I'll call "chaos" in the track reviews - the parts that consist of relatively free improvising, only conducted/guided by Zorn.
Litany 1: The track begins in the "usual" way ... heavy, complex riffs which remind me of Meshuggah, with Patton's insane "vocals" on top. Half way through there is an interruption with subdued harmonic vocal parts, only to be continued with a free-jazz saxophone part and finally near silence with faint whispering and hammond organ bits.
Litany 2: The second track begins much like the first began, but at 0:50 the controlled chaos is suddenly interrupted by a straight beat ... only for a few seconds, then experimental parts continue. This is repeated once, until a calm, melodic part starts (2:30), dominated by Doors-like Hammond organ and cool jazz drums/bass with conversation-like vocals (several voices, much laughter) in the background. That continues for several minutes, with the bass taking the (improvising) helm. But at 6:30 Patton's vocals introduce a return to the controlled chaos.
Litany 3: This begins with organ and bass, followed by slight chaos, then organ and bass again with Patton whispering mystical latin words ("Heliogabalus" among others). At 5:20 there's an outburst of chaos again which totally reminds me of the Fantomas debut. At 6:00 we get something new: Strange angelic choir parts on top of near silence (whispering/breathing and effects). Then at 8:00 it's chaos time again with extreme screams, only to be followed (8:30) by a cool jazz rock part with an organ solo and much bass improvisation.
Litany 4: This track is dominated by Patton's "vocals" ... he does a magnificent job here. It's difficult to describe exactly what he does ... essentially he is describing sceneries/stories with vocal effects. It doesn't include words in the original sense - at least not English words or of any other language. It includes heavy breathing, whispering, screaming, shouting, growling (rarely), whistling, groaning, suffocating, coughing, puking, laughing, giggling ... at one point he's even imitating a gun fight, pigs or police officers (I know, it doesn't make sense). All that sometimes at lightning speed (a bit like scatting), sometimes totally calm and reduced.
Litany 5: This is a bit like the first track, but it also features the angelic choir / organ calm parts, which makes it a bit more interesting to me.
Litany 6: Much like the previous track, and a good combination of all the other litanies.
Despite the strong prominence of vocals, and the purely vocal track "Litany IV", I wouldn't hesitate to describe this as an instrumental album. Besides some chanting of "Heliogabalus" by the female choir, I don't believe a single word is spoken throughout. If you would have any doubt about the validity of calling vocals an instrument, Six Litanies will be the album to convince you. The whispers and chants of the female choir offer a perfect backdrop and provide much of the romantic atmosphere of the album throughout the chaos of the musicians playing. Mike Patton contributes a variety of squeaks, squeals, snorts, and breathing that will amaze you firstly for how inhuman they are. They'll amaze you even more so once you begin to appreciate the great care with which they are placed in the tracks. Honestly, anyone could hire a lunatic to scream randomly throughout an album for weirdness' sake, but their placement and use in the selections speaks volumes of Zorn's compositional ability. Most enjoyable are the great trade-offs and unison lines of Patton's high pitched shrieks and Zorn's trademark sax.
Track Listings
1. Litany I 2. Litany II 3. Litany III 4. Litany IV 5. Litany V 6. Litany VI
Total Time: 44:18 Line-up/Musicians
- John Zorn / alto sax, composer - Joey Baron / drums - Trevor Dunn / bass - Ikue Mori / electronics - Mike Patton / voice - Jamie Saft / organ - Martha Cluver / voice - Abby Fischer / voice - Kirsten Soller / voice Releases information
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