Unremembered is a cycle of thirteen songs by Sarah Kirkland Snider to poems by Nathaniel Bellows about his childhood in rural Massachusetts.  But this is the darker side of childhood.  There are ghosts, witches and houseguests freezing to death.  It’s not Anne of Green Gables with baked beans!

It’s scored for voices, chamber orchestra and electronics and is pretty eclectic.  The voices are Padma Newsome, DM Stith and Shara Worden and none of them perform in a “classical” vocal style.  The band is the Unremembered Orchestra, which includes members of ACME, Alarm Will Sound, ICE, The Knights and So Percussion and is conducted by Edwin Outwater of the late lamented Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.

It’s hard music to describe as it really refuses to be into a “genre” box.  It’s high energy, complex and immersive and very, very Snider.  And for the recording, it’s heavily engineered to create a soundscape that has both aural and spatial dimensions.  Coupled with the rather disturbing texts it’s a memorable experience.

The CD and LP release (which may still be available direct from New Amsterdam) came with original artwork by Bellows and live performances are designed to include specially created video.  Sadly none of that is available for the currently available digital release (MP3, FLAC; CD quality and 44.1kHz/24bit) but at least the sound quality (at least on the FLAC) is excellent.

Absent a digital booklet there’s more information available here.

Catalogue information: New Am,sterdam Records NWAM067