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CD Review
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muruch.blog.com, CD Review >>
Kitka: The Rusalka Cycle: Songs Between The Worlds
Kitka is a nine-member all female vocal ensemble from San Francisco, but the uncannily resplendent music on The Rusalka Cycle: Songs Between The Worlds is closer to Eastern Europe. Inspired by Slavic folklore, their shivery Gothic siren chants are somewhat like that of Mediaeval Baebes. The kind of music that is lovely and operatic, but would perfectly suit a frightening cinematic scene.
The mythic Rusalki are apparently the Slavic equivalent of the Irish bean sí, anguished female spirits who plague the living world. With the help of composer Mariana Sadovska and a journey to Ukraine to meet Rusalka ritual traditionalists who happened to also be survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Kitka successfully conjure up images of spectral harbingers of doom as well as the poor souls left in their wake.
"Farewell" is particularly beautiful and haunting, reminiscent of Elliot Goldenthal's "Libera Me" from the Interview With The Vampire soundtrack. The ebbing a cappella "Transformation" is another highlight. But it's the chilling wails and howls of "Last Night" that stand out most to me. "Sirens" is just scary as hell. And while the finale "To The Lake" is the most purely peaceful piece on the album, it still contains an apparitional melancholy.
--posted by muruch 11/15/07 >> go there
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