Auscultate, Gregorian Chants: Songs of the Beatles

(Albums the World Forgot #2, 2010)


Auscultate, Gregorian Chants: Songs of the Beatles (2003, Elap)

In music there are many sacred cows, artists whose work you would dare not criticise, let alone attempt to improve on. This, of course, is a ridiculous mentality, one that only serves to stunt musical progress. Take, for example, the music of popular rock group The Beatles: why are we content to hear the same tired original versions over and over again, never allowing anyone to breath new life into them?

Gregorian chant enthusiasts Auscultate (or perhaps Avscvltate – the font is slightly confusing) disregard this pressure to maintain the status quo and instead bring the music of The Beatles into the twenty-first century, whilst simultaneously drawing upon some of the earliest music known to man. The decision to render these classic songs in the style of the Gregorian chant is a bold one, not only because of the ‘legendary’ status of The Beatles’ catalogue but also because of the contradictions contained within such a pairing. Gregorian chants were sacred hymns, seen by many as the purest form of music possible; The Beatles, on the other hand, were young and immoral, playing loud rock ‘n’ roll and claiming that they were “larger than Jesus.” Auscultate’s entire album is a merging of the sacred and profane, but where other albums are torn apart by such contradictions, this one thrives.

Auscultate’s unique arrangements allow us to hear its influences in a startling new light. While original Gregorian chants were sung a cappella, with only the natural reverb of the church as accompaniment, these recordings are backed by fully synthesized instruments and enhanced with digital reverb. Furthermore, while the original Beatles recordings were often ruined by over-emoting, Auscultate’s versions, delivered in a monotonous, expressionless style, remove this emotion and let the raw power of the melodies and lyrics shine through. John Lennon’s overblown retrospective In My Life left me cold in the past, but when sung in a flat style and accompanied by new-age synth pads and MIDI harpsichord it is suddenly quite moving.

Inevitably, Auscultate’s digitised arrangements and experimental takes on ‘classic’ songs were met with scorn from the musical elite, who prefer their music to stay the way it’s always been – to stagnate, in other words. Far from being the household names they should be, Auscultate are yet another act relegated to life’s bargain bin, shunned for the ‘slaughter’ of another sacred cow.