Wild Blessing’s Wizard Of Oz recently came across the word “glossolalia” and fell in love with its phonetics, if not its meaning. Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians have been known to engage in glossolalia during worship, uttering unintelligible, language-like sounds, often with variations in rhythm and intonation. The Bible calls it speaking in tongues.
“It felt like a good way to explore an intuition I sometimes have that communication is often less about words and their meaning than trying to make contact,” says Wild Blessing’s anonymous leader. “The song is also about all the people who live on the margins of society that few people take the time to listen to.”
An immersive, imaginative union of the synthetic and the organic, “Glossolalia” is the second single from Wild Blessing’s upcoming EP, From Dust (Vintage Instruments). And while much about the Washington, D.C.-based project is a mystery, there are some names worth noting. Beauty Pill’s Chad Clark contributes a meticulous string arrangement, with experimental singer/songwriter Tara Pasveer supplying otherworldly backing vocals alongside percussion from Carmen Elisa Vargas of the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra. The song was mixed and mastered by Ben Etter (Deerhunter, Soccer Mommy, Kaiser Chiefs).
From Dust is available June 5. We’re proud to premiere Wild Blessing’s “Glossolalia.”
—Hobart Rowland
