I was born a mushroom head
(Four Tet meets Open Field Church)

May 29th, 2007 Posted by Claire

Bringing Kieran Hebden the genius behind Four Tet, into a studio in Sao Paulo to collaborate with, what is an intentionally atonal Brazilian choir, sounds nuts. After a lengthy debate about the “realness” of the TV programme Lost, Eduardo, Dago, and Kieran had decided on the tunes they thought would work well for their musical collaboration. Eduardo and Dago are two of the founding members of the Open Field Church. When they told me they thought Freak (the bass heavy techno track by Warp’s LFO), Mushroom (yes, the krautrock tune by Can) and Slow Jam (Kieran’s delicate closing track on his album Rounds), they sounded not nuts, but completely cashew. In actual fact, after spending time in the studio hearing it develop and come together, I think it sounds absolutely amazing.

To watch a clip of the rehearsals here.

The choir is a group of young people from Sao Paulo, some of them into their music, some have never heard of the tunes they are singing and others are professional musicians such as Ira, the bassist from CSS. They all completely go for it, giving their all and singing as if they were singing alone in the bath. As a group they all seem to have gone to different schools together! Open Field Church believe what they do when performing, is creating ‘reunions around uplifting experiences’. Kieran suggested that everyone in the audience get a toy rubber duck so they can all join in the music. In Slow Jam, there is a squeaky noise that sounds like a toy duck. I can’t wait to see if they go through with that idea on tour. As the ‘mass’ ended and everyone started to leave, choir boys with guitars and bells starting singing and playing their instruments as they spilled out into the street, to spread the good word. If the rehearsals are anything to go by, this collaboration will be right up there as an uplifting experience.

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