Years in the making, ‘Sun Choir’ finds Marram, the music arm of Scottish arts collective Transgressive North, recording the voices of children at a home for underprivileged kids in India. They then use the samples in tracks that veer between alt.pop and trip-hop. On ‘Valuables’ –which features former Clouddead rapper/producer doseone and lyrics from Irvine Welsh – there’s even all-out techno. There are other stellar guests, too: Jarvis Cocker contributes to two songs, ‘What If We’ and ‘Falling From The Sun’, and Final Fantasy man and Arcade Fire arranger Owen Pallet adds his wide-eyed signature to the ecstatic ‘With Us Instead’. Highly ambitious and original stuff, created in aid of the Scottish Love In Action charity.
Phil Hebblethwaite
8/10