Currently on a tour of UK festivals and concert halls, the Spooky Men’s Chorale are an Australian a cappella male vocal group who come on stage like a novelty act sporting seriously silly headgear and specialising in deadpan humour, with songs such as the very funny Don’t Stand Between a Man and His Tool. They are also impressive harmony singers influenced by “spookmeister” Stephen Taberner’s fascination with Georgian choral music, and the new album emphasises musicianship and sensitivity rather than jokes. The Georgian songs include drifting, gently eerie hymns and traditional laments, which are matched against a subtle arrangement of Black Is the Colour, or a charmingly quirky treatment of Leonard Cohen’s Dance Me to the End of Love, while the finest track is an exquisite and thoughtful treatment of Rani Arbo’s setting for Tennyson’s meditation on death, Crossing the Bar. Worth checking out – but the Spookies are best experienced live.
