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Plague Songs & The Margate Exodus


29 September 06
Featuring contributions from Scott Walker, Rufus Wainright, Brian Eno, Robert Wyatt, Stephin Merritt (Magnetic Fields), Laurie Anderson and Imogen Heap, Plague Songs is released by 4ad on Monday October 2nd in the UK.

This fascinating, unsettling and unique project comes down to one simple idea : a collection of songs based on the ten Biblical plagues that take place in the book of Exodus.

A simple idea, but a complicated story - these songs were originally commissioned by a Briitish arts organisation called Artangel to form part of a large-scale public art event. The Margate Exodus takes place in September 2006; it transforms a dilapidated seaside town on the North Kent Coast into the setting for a vibrant modern recreation of the Israelites' flight from Egypt. During the event, the 10 "Plague Songs" will be performed by local singers and musicians; together, the festivities will form part of a feature film which is to be broadcast and screened in 2007.

The 4AD release gathers together the 10 original recordings, presented in Biblical plague order. It moves from the scattershot, street-level drama of Klashnekoff's "Blood" through to the tender lament for a real-life "Death Of The Firstborn" written by Rufus Wainwright. On the way, there's the sublime hover of Brian Eno & Robert Wyatt's "Flies", the cracked, surreal sparseness of The Tiger Lillies "Hailstones", and Laurie Anderson's grave, shadowy meditation on the Death Of Livestock. Imogen Heap's "Glittering Clouds" is a soaring pop song driven along by locust samples, while Scott Walker's "Darkness" (what else ?) is simply astonishing - a driven and almost completely a capella call-and-response which will raise the hairs on the back of your neck.

All ten tracks are exclusive to this release; and despite their various soundworlds and approaches they form a surprisingly coherent and convincing whole.

Tracklisting :

1. "Blood" - Klashnekoff (The Plague Of Blood)

2. "Relate the Tale" - King Creosote (The Plague Of Frogs)

3. "The Meaning of Lice" - Stephin Merritt (The Plague Of Lice)

4. "Flies" - Brian Eno & Robert Wyatt (The Plague Of Flies)

5. "The Fifth Plague" - Laurie Anderson (The Death Of Livestock)

6. "Boils" - Cody ChesnuTT (The Plague Of Boils)

7. "Hailstones" - The Tiger Lillies (The Plague Of Hail)

8. "Glittering Cloud" - Imogen Heap (The Plague Of Locusts)

9. "Darkness" - Scott Walker (The Plague Of Darkness)

10. "Katonah" - Rufus Wainwright (The Death Of The Firstborn)
http://www.4ad.com/news/plague-songs-and/

[porkmarras]

Bizarre 4AD announcement from a stupid bloke.Thanks.