Iowa
debut | In 2008, Los Angeles vocal collaborative
Sonos debuted at the Hotel Café with what Deli Magazine LA called an
“intimate, yet scorching performance … brimming with fiery fervor, major
dynamics and sexual tension.” The six-voice Sonos breathes new life into a
cappella singing, combining a rich, classically trained choral sensibility
with an ultra-modern repertoire that led The Guardian UK to rave,
“prepare to be stunned.”
Adding further texture, the band employs electronic effects pedals that
split their vocal notes into two tones an octave apart, providing a tapestry
of sounds blurring the lines between vocals and instrumental/percussive
back-up.
They recently collaborated with renowned writer Margaret
Atwood, providing choral back-up to a dramatic reading in New York of her
post-apocalyptic new novel The Year of the Flood.
Emerging from the SoCal college a
cappella scene with the singular aim of turning the genre on its head, Sonos
reinvents a 21st Century songbook with bold reinterpretations of
indie artists who inspire the sextet.
The result is a spellbinding fusion of ancient and contemporary sounds, as
songs by the likes of Radiohead (“Everything in Its Right Place”), Fleet
Foxes (“White Winter Hymnal”), Bon Iver (“Re:Stacks”), Rufus Wainwright (“Oh
What a World”), Bjork (“Joga”), and Imogen Heap (“Come Here Boy”) are
transformed into vehicles for voices only.
The group’s repertoire extends to the mainstream as well, with a radical
trip-hop version of the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” and a soulful take on
Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence.”
Sonos’ imaginative approach has already
won raves from tastemakers like Chris Douridas of L.A.’s bellweather station
KCRW-FM, who has praised the group’s “innovative vocal arrangements” and
“inspired repertoire, supremely delivered.”
Sat
May 1|
8 pm
CSPS | 1103 Third St SE | Cedar Rapids $14 + fee advance | $18 door
