Avant-garde legend Diamanda Galás hasn’t released a new album since 2008’s Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, but she hasn’t been totally out of commission since then, either. In fact, Rolling Stone reports in a new interview that she’s coming back stronger than ever this year with a pair of new albums, All the Way and At Saint Thomas the Apostle Harlem, on her own Intravenal Sound Operations label.
Of course, as befits an experimental artist of such magnitude, the format for both albums might be a little surprising: All the Way is a collection of radical interpretations of traditional and jazz classics recorded both live and in studio, and At Saint Thomas the Apostle Harlem is a live set of “death songs” taken from a three-night stay in the New York church during last year’s Red Bull Music Academy Festival. Both discs are out March 24 and are available for pre-order separately or in a bundle through Galás’s website.
Galás has also shared two of the cuts from All the Way: a berserk take on “O Death” recorded at the All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival way back in 2005, and a haunting revision of the Frank Sinatra standard “All the Way.” Check them out below and embrace the tempest. Also read Galás’ interview with Rolling Stone here if you want to know about her process or hear her rip on Taylor Swift or whatever.
All the Way tracklisting:
01. All The Way
02. You Don’t Know What Love Is
03. The Thrill Is Gone
04. Round Midnight
05. O Death
06. Pardon Me I’ve Got Someone To Kill
At Saint Thomas the Apostle Harlem tracklisting:
01. Verrá L.A. more e avrá tuoi occhi
02. Anoixe Petra
03. Angels
04. Die Stunde Kommt
05. Fernand
06. O Death
07. Amsterdam
08. Artemis
09. Let My People Go