“I have just listened to the first two songs of Lamar’s {Speculum Orum: Shackled to the Dead} and his singing is luscious. The D’s below high C are so dark yet so bright, so perfectly placed, sustained with a pristine vibrato, for long amounts of time.
What is interesting about this voice is that it is NOT a falsetto voice. Yes he calls himself modestly a countertenor, but I don’t hear it. I hear a soprano and mezzo, because of the rich timbre he employs.
This is not a review because I have only finished the second song, but I was compelled to write about it immediately because the recording quality is excellent, the mood is exactly what the record suggests: emanating from the bowels of a slave ship.
He has a complete vision here, sound effects, included.
Bravo, my darling Lamar.
Diamanda”
Listen to Speculum Orum, the sound of the waves, and the microtonal movements among F and Fsharp and D Dsharp and E in the soprano register sung in a clean restrained vibrato. That is not easy to do. It is one of the things we singers live for.
Bravo LAMAR.
Diamanda Galas