Missy Mazzoli - Vespers for a New Dark Age (2015) Hi-Res

Over two years in the making, Vespers for A New Dark Age reimagines the traditional vespers prayer service and replaces the customary sacred verses with poems by Matthew Zapruder that contend with themes like technology, God and more. Mazzoli set out to create a more modern version of the vespers service, on her own terms, to explore the intersection of our modern technological age with the archaic formality of religious services. Vespers is meant to beg questions of its listeners — What haunts us in this "new dark age"? What role does ritual play in our lives? Is there room for the supernatural in an increasingly technological world?

On Vespers, acoustic movements that feature timbres spanning the sonic spectrum — from delicate violin runs and lush synth pads to soaring operatic vocals and pulsating percussion — alternate with three purely electronic interludes, where Mazzoli combines her compositional skills with forward-thinking remixing and sampling techniques. These interludes, finessed by electronic producer Lorna Dune, are meant to capture the elements of the compositions that came before them on the record as well as hint at themes to come, solidifying the tracks into a singular, streamlined body of work. Vespers also includes "A Thousand Tongues, feat. Deidre Muro of Savior Adore (Lorna Dune Remix)," a re-imagining of a Mazzoli composition that was recently deemed "the most striking and uncanny music Victoire has ever made" by Pitchfork.

The group's eclectic instrumentation of strings, clarinet and synthesizers has been expanded to include a large pallet of electronic sounds and junk percussion, complemented by Kotche, whose massive drumset included three sets of crotales, glockenspiel, and a seemingly endless battery of cymbals. The vocalists often sing in quasi-baroque harmonies that glided over this landscape of percussion and synths, only to collapse into a haunting solo line.

Victoire is: Olivia De Prato (violin), Eileen Mack (clarinet), Lorna "Dune" Krier and Missy Mazzoli (keyboards, electronics), Eleonore Oppenheim (double bass), Mellissa Hughes (voice). Vespers was commissioned by Carnegie Hall and premiered there by Victoire, Glenn Kotche and Lorna Dune in February 2014.