The Voice Calling lives up to its title: though it’s far more duplicitous than at first listen. Otherwordly Jaime Fennelly has found his musical kin with the addition of Haley Fohr. The dual specters haunt their strongest instrument throughout: harmonium (Fennelly) and voice (Fohr). Most striking is the restraint from both. Fennelly creates winding, repetitious melodies that wrap around those chosen moments when Fohr bellows from the pit of her stomach. The results are a fantastic howl bridging the spiritual twang of previous Mind Over Mirrors without betraying the stark realism of Fohr’s solo work as Circuit des Yeux. What is different with the new configuration of Mind Over Mirrors (however long it lasts) is Fennelly’s harmonium is often the lead vocal, as Fohr’s voice becomes the base of the melodies. The album isn’t so much a shift in the Mind Over Mirrors aesthetic as it is the first real experimentation of Fohr’s voice uncut from her jagged guitar playing (which does make an appearance on the album’s closer, “Calling Your Name.”). Likewise, Fennelly fleshes out ideas using the deep vibrato of Fohr. The furthest out vibes (“Whose Turn is Next,” “Motioning”) are where the configuration becomes one; where this is not just a tossed off collaboration. Though The Voice Calling may be built on each’s ability to define their instrument, it also proves they are not bound to it. A toast to the beginning of a beautiful friendship, and hopefully not the quick rise and fall of a singular idea.
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