The Silver Lake Chorus Releases Debut Album

Above: KCRW’s Raul Campos interviews vocalist Charlie Maas, music director Mikey Wells (Music MFA 10) and vocalist Heather Ogilvy of the Silver Lake Chorus.

The Los Angeles-based choral group, The Silver Lake Chorus (TSLC), releases its debut self-titled album on Tuesday (June 16) via Six Degrees Records. The ensemble celebrates with a record release show on Saturday (June 13) at Pilgrim Church in its namesake Los Angeles neighborhood (Silver Lake).

The album features choral arrangements of rare and new tracks written specifically for the chorus by noted musicians and bands including Sia, The Bird and The Bee, The New Pornographers, Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie), Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and others.

More about the new album from The Wall Street Journal‘s Speakeasy blog:

The Silver Lake Chorus pairs minimal instrumental accompaniment with a rich mix of 26 male and female voices arranged by music director Michael B. Wells [Music MFA 10] and soprano Heather Ogilvy. The results range from spectral on Heavy Star Movin by Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd of the Flaming Lips, to prismatic on Hold Up For by Tegan & Sara, to ornate and complex on Wreckage by A.C. Newman of the New Pornographers.

“At the core of our work is our love of singing,” Wells says by email. “The inherent power and humanity of so many voices singing together is the fuel that drives our engine.”

Australian singer-songwriter Ben Lee produced the project after hearing the group sing a Beck song at an early rehearsal. Lee also helped TSLC secure tracks from other songwriters.

In addition to Wells, CalArtian vocalists Bobby Halvorson (Music DMA 13, MFA 10), Edward Kiniry-Ostro (Acting BFA ’03), Rita Soultanian (staff) and Anthony Starble (Music BFA 10) sing with the group.

Pre-order the debut TSLC album on iTunes and stream the tracks via Soundcloud below: