In the popular imagination, few musical instruments have become more closely associated with Heaven than the harp. It’s a conception to which the latest releases by Anneleen Lenaerts, Helene Schütz, Rachel Talitman, and Vanessa Gerkens—their primarily secular intentions notwithstanding—pose little if any threat.

The 20-Man Music Machine

Peter Clark

A lot of learning may not be as dangerous as a little learning, but in the case of The Invisible Light: Acoustic Space (Verve)—the experimental new album by T Bone Burnett, Jay Bellerose, and Keefus Ciancia—it can certainly be prohibitive.

The Sweet Primeroses

Shirley Collins

The universal emotions at their core are why the songs on this 1967 recording are called “folk” songs. Her voice and the way that she used it are why Shirley Collins is called a “folk” singer: Unafflicted by vibrato or exemplary breath control, she sounds as common as a miller’s daughter, albeit one whose sister has mastered the rudiments of the pipe organ. The tacked-on four-song EP that brings this reissue’s track total to 20 proves that Collins used her voice the same way in 1963.

On April 1, The New York Times published a story titled “‘Blurred Lines’ on Their Minds, Songwriters Create Nervously.” It detailed the anxiety besetting pop composers in the wake of recent plagiarism lawsuits in which courts have sided with the plaintiffs and thereby lowered the burden of proof to the point that almost any song might be actionable.  

And, despite its publication date, the story was no joke.

Gabriel Jackson’s The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ is not by any means an “easy” work. Irregular rhythms jostle with mercurial dynamics. Orchestral instruments respond to the calls of operatic soloists who soar and dip amid or atop choral vocals. Sounds begin in mimesis and end in abstraction. Form yields to content, adapts, then yields again, creating phantasmagoric effects.

High Hopes

Here’s the Steeple