SOUNDTRACK: ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF-“Funeral for My Children” (Field Recordings, November 4, 2013).
I remember exploring this Field Recording back in 2013 when it came out. There is something otherworldly and magical about the pipe organ, even if it is played in a rather fast and clearly secular way like in this song.
One of my [Bob Boilen’s] most surprising discoveries of 2013 is an artfully poppy pipe-organ record called Ceremony, by Swedish singer Anna von Hausswolff. Though she doesn’t consider herself an accomplished pipe organist, von Hausswolff quickly learned the instrument’s power, as well as some of its subtleties.
I talked about this song back in 2013 and felt that the percussion was more interesting than the music. I don’t feel that way now, although perhaps this live version is different.
When we learned that von Hausswolff was coming to New York City this summer, we started scouting for a church with a pipe organ that could accommodate a small video crew and some secular music. We found Christ Church, a United Methodist church on Park Avenue with a gracious staff who helped us make this work. [Anna Von Hausswolff Finds A Pipe Organ In New York City].
The recording opens with church bells and chimes, which Anna is playing gently on the organ (you can see the switches she presses to get sounds–how high tech!). Then the drum comes in. It is a simple beat on a floor tom–click click boom–a martial rhythm to offset the lofty pipe organ.
Once we were set for a location, we lit some candles and moved the pipe organ (not the pipes) into a position that allowed us get the best view of von Hausswolff while keeping percussionist Michael Stasiak distant enough so as not to bury the sound of her voice. In the process, we captured a beautiful rendition of “Funeral For My Future Children,” a song on Ceremony originally recorded at another church — this one in Gothenburg.
It almost comes as a surprise when Anna starts singing as you don;t often hear vocals with a pipe organ. But her voice has the power and inflection to match this illustrious organ and that thumping drum. I love when the sound of the organ changes about 4 and a half minutes in–the solo just adds a whole new depth to the piece. And when she hits a high not just before that, it’s amazing.
[READ: January 18, 2018] “Jack”
This is an excerpt from Robinson’s novel Home. It’s set in Gilead which is the title of a previous book of hers, so I assume it is some kind of continuation of the town, if not the family. I’ve never read anything else by her.
Since this is an excerpt rather than a short story it takes a long time for much to happen. But her writing is pretty great and everything that she writes is rather compelling.
The story opens with Glory, the youngest of six children arriving at her childhood home. She is greeted by her father who is shockingly frail and thin and… old. She is moving back home to take care of him now that he is by himself.
The story quickly flashes back to her childhood growing up in the house. A house that seemed somehow too large, too ungainly for the neighborhood it was in. How had it changed so much since she left? (more…)
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I have liked Swans since I discovered them as a DJ on my college radio station (Children of God was and is like nothing I’ve ever heard). I loved their bombast.
