In a video trailer for Finnegan Shanahan’s debut album from New Amsterdam Records, David Bloom conducts the new music ensemble Contemporaneous in a passage from “The Two Halves: Music for a Hudson River Railroad Dream Map.” The piece is a 35-minute song cycle described in a press release as “deft violin work and ethereal vocals with sprawling arrangements of strings, horns, percussion, and electronics.” The 22-year-old composer is a founding member of the ensemble, which will perform live on Monday in Brooklyn to celebrate the album.
Finn’s a wonderful musician (and composer). I’ve heard him sing almost every kind of music — even ancient Greek — convincingly. This is a great album.