Bittersweet would be the best way to describe what’s going on here. There are only two sides to this, “The Sinking of the Titanic” on side A and “Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet” on side B. Both sides are pretty good late night winter listening. Each has its own specific take on various hopes or failings. Neither side is particularly troublesome or tricky, there’s no difficult serialism or extreme avant-garde tendencies to overcome here. Probably the hardest thing to get through is the emotional content.
“The Sinking of the Titanic” comes first and is the bleaker of the two. First composed in 1969, it is sort of a sad piece. Nothing rises out of the sadness associated with the event, and there are some additionally nice drones and other goings-on underneath all the violins. It gives the piece the feeling that slowly the orchestra is about to go down with the ship.
My personal preference is for the B side, “Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet”. A homeless man sings a stanza. Slowly harmonies come in, embellishing the emotional content of the singer. It is a beautiful, optimistic piece. Gavin does it justice by refusing to instantly satisfy the listener, allowing the stanza to be repeated for over 3 minutes before other elements are introduced. The stanza gives the piece rhythm and is its emotional heart. How the words work in the song remind me of Alvin Lucier’s “I am in a room” in that the words give the piece meaning and flow. Unlike that work, this is far more moving, working on an emotional rather than intellectual level. And while most composers would be okay with increasing the volume of everything, Gavin still makes sure that even at the loudest you can still clearly hear the singer.
I feel really happy that both these pieces exist. Each one adds a little something to my life and helps give me hope.