Medicine Singers - Medicine Singers (Album Review)

 

Medicine Singers - Medicine Singers

(2022)


My copy: 2022 press on oxblood colored vinyl by Stone Tapes and Joyful Noise Recordings.


While Medicine Singers consists of numerous musical guests, it is primarily a collaboration between Israeli guitarist and producer Yonatan Gat and the Native American music collective Eastern Medicine Singers. Gat pulled the Eastern Medicine Singers on stage impromptu in 2017 after seeing them perform in the street, thus birthing the core concept of the project: Native powwow songs combined with improv guitar fed through several modern genres. Using connections forged across his lengthy career, Gat calls in a collection of musicians of varying backgrounds, from Swans collaborator Thor Harris to jazz trumpeter Jamie Branch. 

“A Cry” eases us in, spoken word is broken up by psychedelic synth and wavering horns until a voice calls out in Native tongues - beckoning into a canyon of reverb. Gat’s melodic guitar joins in, harmonizing beautifully. The song breathes patiently, even in its most layered moments. “Daybreak” then introduces distortion to the vocals, also adding in the booming powwow drum. The structures from here on out are mostly chaotic, interlocking weaves of vocal choruses and glitched-out electronic effects. “Daybreak” is impressive for building into powerful, driving rhythmic forces, leading into the slowly overflowing sound collage of “Hawk Song.” Contemplative spirituals lead into the impressive “Sanctuary” which goes off-trail into a lengthy jazz improv mid-section with cool keys and nicely mixed horns. 

“My Brother” and “Shootingstar Press” are brief interludes that dip traditional native vocals into EQ baths, muting, distorting and ever experimenting with sound. The Medicine Singers have turned a traditionally minimalist, tribal style of music into a maximalist dream-scape; and while this works out most of the time, the constantly shifting arrangements can be a bit disorienting. “Sunrise (Rumble)” sees pounding percussion cresting over synth drones, before affixing classic, bluesy guitar riffing to the heartbeat of the drums. “Shapeshifter” is perhaps the most chaotic, and nearly loses me in its inability to focus on a particular motif, but the production of the ambient moments against the dense buildups are interesting enough to hold fascination. 

Crunchy, 80s synth tones end up working surprisingly well in tandem with the powwow drum and native vocalizing on “Sunset” which sports the longest length on the album. There is a vibrancy about the collection of instruments, and finally “Sunset” engages in the most explosive crescendo of the record before abruptly switching to silence. The final track reworks the first song, which serves as a soothing release from the tension that makes up most of the album. 

Known for legendary live performances, the energy of Medicine Singers certainly manages to carry over into their recorded material. I suspect some emotional resonance is lost in the recordings, but the crew has captured some truly spiritual and evocative sounds, twisting and reworking them into a modern spin on some of the oldest Native American melodies and languages with a reverence that is commendable. These arrangements sometimes spiral out of control, seemingly too eager to include as much as possible, although the ever-changing structures do help to evoke a sense of ephemera.

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