New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Composer
Sarah Kirkland Snider has released a video for 'Credo' from her new album, Mass for the Endangered, released to critical acclaim on New Amsterdam and Nonesuch Records in September. The video by CandyStations, aka Deborah Johnson, is the fourth in the series for the album from the visual artist, following 'Alleluia,' 'Kyrie,' and 'Sanctus/Benedictus.'
Johnson says: "'Credo' is a totemic creed to flora and fauna writ in stars and stone - a temple dedicated to the threatened and endangered.
Seven sacred creatures evolve in form and complexity, alluding to humanity's primordial relationship with nature, by turns violent and worshipful."
Mass for the Endangered, with a libretto by poet/writer
Nathaniel Bellows, is a celebration of, and an elegy for, the natural world - animals, plants, insects, the planet itself - an appeal for greater awareness, urgency, and action. Originally commissioned by
Trinity Church Wall Street, the recording features the English vocal ensemble Gallicantus conducted by Gabriel Crouch. The New Yorker says it "proclaims Snider's technical command and unerring knack for breahttaking beauty." NPR says: "Through her smart and resplendent exploration of age-old musical formals, Snider's eco-inspired Mass for the Endangered is a blast from the past that resnoates profoundly in the present."
Deborah Johnson, who has previously worked with artists like Sufjan Stevens, eighth blackbird, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, Bang On A Can, and Wilco, presents a unified and distinctive vision to accompany the music of Snider's Mass: the full six videos are viewed as a 'Cathedral of the Cosmos,' honoring and receiving the animal and plant species that no longer find life on Earth sustainable. The videos draw from architectural elements of cathedrals, and grow in complexity with each video.
"One of my favorite aspects of this collaboration has been learning about Deborah's creative process and getting to peek behind-the-scenes at how she makes her art. I was really struck by the thoughtfulness and sensitivity with which her animations inhabit the architecture and pacing of the score," Snider said on working with Johnson.
"Working with Deborah on Mass for the Endangered has been one of the more satisfying and enriching collaborations I've experienced. I love that I don't know what's next to come in this poetic, layered, phantasmagorical story she's creating, and I can't wait to see how it expands and deepens my understanding of the music."
