TBGB Pick of the Week: June 12, 2006

“Over My Head”
Sounds of Blackness
From the album Unity
SLR Records 2005
www.soundsofblackness.com

It’s hard to categorize Sounds of Blackness – and if there’s one thing we reviewers like to do, it’s categorize – because they have recorded just about every type of music borne and bred in the African American tradition in the three-plus decades they have been around. But on “Over My Head,” from last year’s Unity CD, they are a traditional gospel choir. "Over My Head" is joyful, exhilarating, hand-clapping gospel singing, pure and simple. Although “traditional gospel choir” is a relatively new exploration for Sounds of Blackness, it is their best, if least complex, sound ever.