Like the King's Singers, whom they somewhat resemble, the members of the vocal octet Voces8 have combined crossover releases with albums of traditional vocal and choral repertory. With Infinity, however, the group goes into territory beyond where the King's Singers or other small choirs have ventured. The album is proclaimed to be a "space-inspired collection of meditative and transcendental works," and it might easily be listened to with meditation as the goal. The slow-moving tempos and the choral textures vary hardly at ...
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Like the King's Singers, whom they somewhat resemble, the members of the vocal octet Voces8 have combined crossover releases with albums of traditional vocal and choral repertory. With Infinity, however, the group goes into territory beyond where the King's Singers or other small choirs have ventured. The album is proclaimed to be a "space-inspired collection of meditative and transcendental works," and it might easily be listened to with meditation as the goal. The slow-moving tempos and the choral textures vary hardly at all over the course of the program. Non-meditating listeners may react to the album in line with their preconceptions about sounds often described as New Age, but they should note that the music is more varied than it may first appear. Quite a few sources of inspiration are whittled down and packed into the basic choral framework, which often includes electronics. There are minimalist classical pieces, ambient electronic music, slight shadings from folk rhythms, and even one piece containing subtle samples from audio gathered during the Soviet Union's 1957 Sputnik space shot. Fans of Voces8 will surely enjoy the album, but it's of interest to others as well. ~ James Manheim, Rovi
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