When We Arrive At Home
Neuma, 2025
9/10
Listen to When We Arrive At Home
The Kansas City vocal ensemble, KC Vitas, celebrate a decade of performing with this debut album, where the 10 tracks serve as a ‘Greatest Hits’ approach via their classical and choral ways.
Ashi Day’s “Boundless” opens with the voices harmonizing alongside much beauty, warmth and precise layering, and “Passing Trees, Far And Near” follows with strategic repetition and strong attention to tonality in the busy climate of the Kota Hayton piece.
Blake Clawson’s “There Are Fields” lands in the middle and radiates tremendous intimacy thanks to the poetic voices, while the title track, by Ben Zucker, carries a haunting spirit which places a lot of attention on mood in the reimagining of the Sacred Harp hymn Idumea.
Close to the end, Michael Genese’s “X. Medalyons” enlists gentle keys amid the soaring voices, and “The Prow”, by Matthew Lyon Hazzard, exits with a cinematic quality that reflects longing and arrival with much grace.
A truly powerful first album that’s harmonic, raw and emotional, the ensemble create choral music that’s closely related to the human spirit across many joyful, heartwarming and exciting avenues.
Travels well with: Nick May + Alex Siu Lun Li- You Me Us; Phillip Schroeder- Radiance Within