Keith Kenniff describes the music he records under the name Goldmund as “post-classical” and the name seems apt. As opposed to the lush ambient soundscapes he records with Helios, Goldmund strips away electronics and artifice for piano-based records that resonate with a simplicity that seems to come from a bygone era.
In the case of his new album All Will Prosper, that bygone era is literal. All the tracks are Civil War-era folk songs. The best known of the bunch is “Amazing Grace,” which we premiere below. You’ve probably heard the song a million times sung by gospel belters, but Goldmun’s slow, barren take gives the song a different feel entirely, not a joyful cry but a mournful hymn. With just guitar and piano he build a quiet instrumental, like classical music as filtered through slowcore. You could imagine this one playing at a soldier’s funeral, combining earthly sorrow and heavenly uplift. Download it below.
MP3: Goldmund – Amazing Grace [Cover Me Premiere]
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Buy ‘All Will Prosper’ at iTunes or Amazon.
