KMA146 The Choir Practice – The Choir Practice

When Mint Records recently sent us the new Immaculate Machine album, Fables, they also included this brilliant self-titled record by The Choir Practice. It was totally not what I was expecting – and in a really, really good way!

Frankly, I don’t know what I thought it was. Some religious choir singing hosannas and praises? Maybe in a language other than English? I mean, what did I know, right? Well, it turns out that The Choir Practice is actually a really cool collective of excellent vocalists and musicians who make music that sounds exactly like religious ecstasy, whether the words are in keeping or not. Coco Culbertson (of the Gay, A.C. Newman Band, and Tennessee Twin) is here and, for further coolness, Larissa Loyva (of P:ano and Kellarissa) appears as well, along with a whole list of people whose names I’m sure you’ll know very shortly if they keep making records as good as this one.

Now, regular readers of this site will know that I am fairly loathe to point out highlight tracks from albums. I’m more of a Big Picture guy, when it comes to writing in these pages. You see, the songs I like may not be the one that speaks to you, and if you listen only to what I pick, you may pass the rest of the tracks over before giving them a chance. That isn’t fair to you or the band. I just don’t need that on my conscience.

Well, you can relax with this record anyway because I’d be hard-pressed to pick one or two favourites here. It sounds sweeping to say it like this, but there really isn’t a bad song on the disc! The harmonies are glorious, the musical accompaniment is perfectly attuned to what the songs require. There’s an energy and an approach here that’s more pop music than it is choral music, so when you buy this record (and you should!) you’re really getting two bands in one. How cool is that?

I’ll bet this group would sound amazing in concert. I can totally picture them in some huge hall with wooden floors and a high, vaulted ceiling, their voices ringing, echoing and filling the whole place perfectly. Yeah, that’d kick ass.

I know I’ll be playing this record a lot, because the uplifting, joyful noise that is The Choir Practice is already almost completely assimilated into my brain after only two (and most of a third) listens. And that, my friends, is a very happy thing, indeed.

PS A big THANK YOU to the hugely amazing folks at Mint Records for getting this record into our hot little hands and our happy little ears. Your generosity is completely appreciated by us, here at the KMA. Rawk!