''The Angels of Light Sing 'Other People is the fourth studio album by

Angels of Light Angels of Light were an American folk band that was formed circa 1998 by singer-songwriter and musician Michael Gira after he disbanded Swans, the group he had founded in 1982. The band has marked a distinctly different style for Gira since he ...

. Produced by band leader

Michael Gira Michael Rolfe Gira (; born February 19, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, author and artist. He is the main force behind the New York City musical group Swans and fronted Angels of Light. He is also the founder of ...

, it was released on March 21, 2005, via Gira's own record label,

Young God Records Young God Records is an independent record label formed by Michael Gira in 1990 that specializes in experimental, avant-garde and often non genre-specific releases. The label was named after an EP released by Gira's band Swans called '' Young Go ...

. It is the band's first album to feature extensive contributions from American

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

outfit Akron/Family, who played on every song of the album.

Critical reception

Upon its release, ''The Angels of Light Sing 'Other People''' received positive reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 80, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 12 reviews. On the album, Greg Prato of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

wrote: "Obviously, not what most

Swans Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Someti ...

fans would expect from Gira, but in terms of a strong singer-songwriter album, ''Angels of Light Sing Other People'' is definitely a worthy listen. Mike Diver of '' Drowned in Sound'' gave the album a perfect 10 score and stated: " It is utterly engaging, totally absorbing and, well, absolutely essential." He also described the album as "a record rich in honesty, in true human emotions and wishes and woes." Sam Ubl of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' wrote: "Gira's songs have many one-of-a-kind nuances that tether the album even when it ventures," He also commented that "the album goes easy on the sexual anger, capitulating to a refreshingly mundane flavor of storytelling." Mike Powell of '' Stylus Magazine'' stated: "''Sing ‘Other People’'' leaves behind much of the violence of Gira's approach but retains the same soul-plunging ambitions, both allying him effortlessly with the druggy expressivity that characterizes practitioners of newer psychedelic music and belatedly identifying him as an influence and antecedent." Some critics also noted the absence of drums from most of the recording, which was reported to be limited to "only 10 seconds".

Track listing

Personnel

;Angels of Light *

– vocals, production, arrangement, design, acoustic guitar, harmonica and various other instruments ;Additional musicians *Dana Janssen ( Akron/Family) – drums, glockenspiel, bass guitar, electric guitar, percussion, piano, saxophone, synthesizer, vocals *Seth Olinsky (Akron/Family) – banjo,

Casio is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturing corporation headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Its products include calculators, mobile phones, digital cameras, electronic musical instruments, and analogue and digital watches. I ...

, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, organ, piano, synthesizer, vocals *Miles Seaton (Akron/Family) – Casio, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, electric guitar, sounds, synthesizer, vocals *Ryan Vanderhoof (Akron/Family) – Casio, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, synthesizer, vocals *Paul Cantelon – violin *Siobhan Duffy – vocals *Patrick Fondiller – mandolin *Jerome O'Brien – double bass *Julia Kent – cello ;Other personnel *Bryce Goggin – mixing * Doug Henderson – mastering *Ben Kirkendoll – layout design, technical supervision, technician *Jason LaFarge – audio engineering

References

External links

The Angels of Light Sing 'Other People' on Young God Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Angels Of Light Sing Other People, The 2005 albums Angels of Light albums Young God Records albums Albums produced by Michael Gira