Dr. Roger Payne was the man behind the first-ever disc of whale recordings back in 1970; this disc is a sequel to that first album (Songs of the Humpback Whale), this time covering humpbacks, blue and right whales in a variety of conditions. Some of the recordings have been put through a frequency shift to accommodate human hearing, although the title track is still likely to do more to rattle the room and your body than work with your hearing. On the amusing side, the disc also includes a track titled "Surrounded by Snoring," recorded when Payne and his cohorts crept up on a group of sleeping whales, finishing up with the microphones only inches from the blowhole of one of the group.
Deep Voices is a beautiful album, alien, weird and magnificent in what it depicts, with its only lack perhaps being the limitations of both the medium and the listener. We can marvel at what we glimpse through this disc, but we can never really be part of the greater experience. Kudos to Payne (and label owner
Paul Winter) for bringing us the glimpse, though. ~ Steven McDonald