When I took a few African American literature classes at the University of Maryland, my professor, Dr. Mary Helen Washington, was fond of stressing that when viewing works by an author of color, a reader should be aware that the writer was (sometimes at once) writing something unique and personal, as well as something that was making larger points about race and the representation of it in this country. Andrew Choi, a gay, Asian American seems to have embraced that duality of purpose in his Art, offering up something wonderfully personal and one-of-a-kind here, as well as something that speaks to larger ideas and concerns of race, class, sexuality, and spirituality in the year of a plague. So much has informed Ten Songs of Worship and Praise for Our Tumultuous Times, Choi's new record as St. Lenox, that one can approach this from multiple angles and be rewarded anew.
"Deliverance" and "Arthur is at a Shiva" speak directly to ideas of rebirth, and the hope of deliverance. The feelings here are richer still coming as they do now at the end (?) of a pandemic's ravaging of this country. And with COVID still destroying populations in Asia and elsewhere, the theme of hope in the midst of horror is a poignant one. Elsewhere, the spry "The Great Blue Heron (Song of Solomon)" whirrs atop an organ figure that gives this a spry, Sixties vibe. Choi's lyrics are intimate and complex. And I guarantee you that you'd be hard pressed to find another single in 2021 that sounds quite like this.
Ten Songs of Worship and Praise for Our Tumultuous Times takes a personal turn as we sink into the lush "Kroger Twilight" and "What is It Like to Have Children?", a real gem here. While the song about shopping at night is perfectly observed, and oddly funny and sad at the same time, the song about parenting is more complicated. This one, with Choi embracing his own identity as an American of Korean descent, and as a gay man navigating the early 21st century, is poignant and the right kind of heartfelt. The track is wildly personal and yet it tells listeners so much about the larger issues about the journey of immigrants to this country, and the costs associated with growing up here. It's a brilliant composition, as layered as a poem, and as purposeful as a hymn.
When Andrew sings "I am your neighbor" in "Bethesda", there's an ideal here, more than just a statement of the reality of his church-life. How rare it is to hear a positive, inclusive image of Christian ritual! In that sense, Choi's forging a path here that's not like anything else in indie, but he's sort of been doing that all along. Coming as it does now, after a pandemic year, with a key song being titled "Gospel of Hope", Ten Songs of Worship and Praise for Our Tumultuous Times seems special and precious in terms of its focus on spirituality and religion.
And back to my original idea. I think it's possible to appreciate the larger themes here on Ten Songs of Worship and Praise for Our Tumultuous Times, as well as be moved by what are very personal compositions from Andrew Choi. If the melodies are almost jaunty in spots, that lightness is the necessary juxtaposition to the memories and concepts being unfurled. Choi's blended things so effortlessly on this one, that I'm going to be very surprised if this album doesn't get a whole lot of acclaim from critics at the end of the year. Of the moment, of the era, and still a record that only Andrew Choi could make, Ten Songs of Worship and Praise for Our Tumultuous Times by St. Lenox is a marvelous piece of accessible art, and a fun listen too.
Ten Songs of Worship and Praise for Our Tumultuous Times is out on Friday via Anyway Records and Don Giovanni Records.
More details on St. Lenox via the official website.
[Photo: Janice Chung]