“Congratulations” begins with a sonic collage of prayers before erupting in exaltation, a joyful noise in a thundering triple meter.
Oh my god 2019 free#
The usual guitars in Morby’s past albums are largely substituted for these Guèbrou-inspired piano lines, in addition to low organ drones (“Nothing Sacred/All Things Wild,” “Savannah”) which break free into an ecstatic solo in “Hail Mary.” Gospel mmms and ahhs are introduced early and reappear throughout, while hand claps and rolling tom toms on “No Halo” evoke revival songs as interpreted by Nina Simone. The introductory piano runs were inspired by Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, an Ethiopian nun who, in addition to composing piano pieces, painted religious icons. Reviewers of Oh My God seem quick to tell you it’s a “non-religious religious album.” But it sounds pretty religious to me. After the piano introduction, Morby starts singing a repetitive, “Oh my Lord, come carry me home.” It seemed appropriate.
I first listened to Oh My God the day my wife’s great aunt died. It’s a good opening for an album, evoking a moment when sporadic musical noodling suddenly, as if through unknown inspiration, coalesces into song. He plays a flurry of clustered, bluesy notes up and down the keyboard before settling in on the chords, hammered out in steady quarter notes. Kevin Morby’s fifth studio album, Oh My God, begins with the sound of an upright piano, past its prime-the kind you find in church backrooms, probably donated and used mostly to accompany Sunday school songs.