“There is no Other” is a concept that’s long bothered Rhiannon Giddens. A bi-racial American now living in Ireland, she was trained in opera but won a Grammy with a traditional folk band, Carolina Chocolate Drops, before going on to sing blues and jazz, cover old field songs and write new songs about slavery, do a Dylan tribute, a ballet, and work with the classical Kronos Quartet.This collaborative album by Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi, doesn’t shine a light on old music; it blocks out the sun entirely, scavenging the darkness for deeper understanding. Giddens is a conservatory-trained opera singer, and a multi-instrumentalist with a knack for finding uncanny harmony among distant generations and geographies of music. Turrisi is a jazz composer with concentrations on early baroque and Mediterranean music. On this wide-ranging collection of covers and original material by Giddens, they speak to each others’ strengths, refining century-spanning stories into a broken prayer for unity. The music asks for close listening and contemplation; the space they create is small, with room for all of us.
Like the best folk music, “There is no Other” was documented
quickly, in just five days, and it consists mostly of first takes. The song
selection is thoughtful and ambitious, spanning opera, Appalachian bluegrass,
gospel, and traditional Italian music. The production focuses on the duo’s
interplay, as they bore into their songs with earthy severity; on the most
elaborate arrangements, they are joined by a cellist. With such sparse
arrangements, the album’s grandest moments come from Giddens’ vocals. Turrisi’s
accompaniments add a strange, delicate beauty to Giddens’ solemn, powerful
soprano.
