Jay Clayton & Kirk Nurock - Unraveling Emily (2013) [Hi-Res]

An air of mystery surrounds the work of Emily Dickinson. The beloved writer spent most of her time away from the public’s eye amassing a collection of poetry that has fascinated readers for decades.

Her short, gnomic verses are a perfect fit for vocalist Jay Clayton and composer Kirk Nurock. On their new recording, Unraveling Emily, Nurock weaves Clayton’s innovative vocalizing into surreal compositional soundscapes.

Nurock overdubbed multiple layers of Clayton’s singing and speaking, with varying ambience, echo and spatial relationships. A haunted theatrical quality appears, as if Dickinson’s ghost is trying to tell a story, without beginning or end.

A handful of poems were set as heart-rending ballads. The quiet “All This and More” has an uplifting feel, while “Will There Really Be a Morning?” is devastating in its blunt emotionality. Clayton’s mastery is in full voice on “A Something In a Summer’s Day” and the duo really make Dickinson’s words swing on “I May Remember Him.”

Kirk Nurock - compositions, montages and piano
Jay Clayton - vocal interpretations and improvisations