Also, the idea of someone singing вЂDonвЂ™t go wasting your emotion / Lay all your love on me / DonвЂ™t go sharing your devotionвЂЇ/ Lay all your love on me,вЂ™ over and over again very slowly, thereвЂ™s a certain tragedy in it.

The playing is very Josh itвЂ™s so sensitive,вЂќ Shaw says.ДЄdam SliwinskiвЂ™s marimba duet with Shaw is an interpretation of the ABBA song вЂњLay All Your Love on Me.вЂќ She explains, вЂњItвЂ™s really a Bach chorale. Lyrically, the song is вЂњrelated to some math bits that I love, but also memory, and love songs of somebody whoвЂ™s gone or passed away, or that youвЂ™re no longer with: what is the sound of that kind of devastation or confusion or love?вЂќ They recorded the song only twice, and the first take is on the album. She sings with Josh Quillen on steel drums on the title track, which she wrote in under an hour in a вЂњfree-writing zone, very inspired by James Joyce, taking on that brain space,вЂќ she says. One such idea was for Shaw to do a duet with each member of SЕЌ. вЂњJon is an amazing editor,вЂќ Cha-Beach says, вЂњHe is so helpful in thinking about: вЂWe have these ideas: how do we shrink those and make them come across on an album?вЂ™вЂќ вЂњThe prompt for all of us was: What would we make in the room together with no one person in charge, like a band writes in the studio?вЂќД¬ha-Beach recalls of the early test run during the Narrow Sea session: вЂњIt had that capturing-lightning-in-a bottle feeling.вЂќ When the opportunity to have three days in their friendsвЂ™ studio, Guilford Sound, came up, the five musicians decamped for Vermont with engineer/co-producer Jonathan Low. IвЂ™ve been thinking of making a solo album for seven or eight years, but it takes having the right friends and community in the room,вЂќ Shaw says.

вЂњI hadnвЂ™t written very many songs, but I have certainly loved many in my life.

ThereвЂ™s a line, вЂFrail solace of an hour/ So soon our transient comforts fly / And pleasure blooms to die.вЂ™ ItвЂ™s meditation on the ephemeral, and I love it.вЂќ вЂњI love the songs about death, and going home, and looking toward a time that is better or brighter, which, if thereвЂ™s one thing to think about in the world, maybe thatвЂ™s the thing,вЂќ Shaw says. вЂњTo the Sky,вЂќ from the Sacred Harp, takes its lyrics from Anne Steele. Shaw, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her vocal composition Partita for 8 Voices, written for and performed with Roomful of Teeth, makes her solo vocal debut with Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part. The album is co-produced by Shaw, SЕЌ Percussion, and the Grammy AwardвЂ“winning engineer Jonathan Low (The National, Taylor Swift). With Shaw on vocals and SЕЌ-Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting-filling out this new band, they developed songs in the studio, with lyrics inspired by their own wide-ranging interests: James Joyce, the Sacred Harp hymn book, a poem by Anne Carson, the BibleвЂ™s Book of Ruth, the American roots tune вЂњIвЂ™ll Fly Away,вЂќ and the pop perfection of ABBA, among others. The musicians, who have known each other since their student days, were presented with three days of gratis studio time and decided to experiment with ideas they had begun putting to tape during the sessions for their January 2021 Nonesuch release Narrow Sea. Nonesuch Records released an album of songs written and performed by Caroline Shaw and SЕЌ Percussion, Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, on June 25, 2021.

Let the record play lyrics