Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Caroline Shaw has announced a new album with Sō Percussion, her second project with the New York ensemble this year. It’s called Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part and it’s out June 25 via Nonesuch. The first song from the album is titled “To the Sky,” which you can hear below.
Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part is Shaw’s first album to feature her own vocals, and she shared a brief statement about her new work:
The record follows January’s Narrow Sea, which also featured soprano Dawn Upshaw and pianist Gilbert Kalish. The musicians returned to work with Narrow Sea producer Jonathan Low for Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part. (Low recently won the 2021 Grammy Award for Album of the Year for his work on Taylor Swift’s folklore.) The new project also includes Shaw’s reinterpretation of ABBA’s “Lay All Your Love on Me,” arranged for marimba and voice.
Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part:
01 To the Sky
02 Other Song
03 Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part
04 The Flood is Following Me
05 Lay All Your Love on Me
06 Cast the Bells in Sand
07 Long Ago We Counted
08 A Gradual Dazzle
09 A Veil Awave Upon the Waves
10 Some Bright Morning