Gareth Malone's Voices

Talented young singers marshalled by the UK's favourite choirmaster to perform contemporary songs. Album of the Week, 28 October 2013.

Choirmaster extraordinaire Gareth Malone has big ambitions for the future of choral music; he's out to bring the genre into the 21st century, developing a completely new style and sound-world for choirs, adapting contemporary music and employing cutting edge production by multi-Mercury Prize nominee, David Kosten.

This first album from his talented young choir Voices features covers of songs by such artists as Keane, Fleet Foxes and Alicia Keys. There are also guest solos from Amber Le Bon and Fyfe Dangerfield of Guillemots. 

It's haunting and ethereal at times with Fleetwood Mac's You Can Go Your Own Way and Radiohead's No Surprises as stand-out moments. 

Curiously for an exercise in modernising the genre, it's the more traditional, purely a capella tracks that work more successfully than those that add beats and accompaniment. But over all, the album offers a selection of enjoyable new repertoire for choral singers and should excite many more young people to open their mouths and sing.