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Individually, they are five phenomenal and distinctive vocalists: Theo Bleckmann, the effusive German-American meistersinger known for his brilliant collaborations with Meredith Monk, Steve Coleman, and Laurie Anderson; Peter Eldridge, an eclectic vocalist, composer, and member of the New York Voices; Lauren Kinhan, known for her charismatic voice, genre bending originals, and her dedicated years as a member of the New York Voices; Kate McGarry, a vocal polymath at home with the folk tradition and the Big Apple bandstand; Luciana Souza, the Brazilian whose repertoire ranges from bossa novas and Elizabeth Bishop to Steely Dan. Together, they are MOSS, A vocal supergroup that intertwines jazz, classical, pop, folk, electronica, world music, and poetry into an arresting and unique sonic species of art. On their debut recording, they are supported by electric guitarist Ben Monder, bassist Tim Lefebvre; drummer/percussionist Ben Wittman, and acoustic guitarist Keith Ganz (with Eldridge on piano and keyboards).

I was on a train from New Jersey a few years back, and I bumped into Peter Eldridge. We had talked about working together ... recalls Luciana Souza. [W]e fantasized about a project where we could join other like-minded singers to write, study, rehearse and blend our different styles of singing, creating a collective sound ... [H]ere we had a group of intelligent, open-minded, and unique singers. Subsequent meetings in Souza s Upper West Side apartment led to their first gig in 2005 at Manhattan s Joe s Pub. They ve also performed in greater Los Angeles and at the Merkin Concert Hall in New York.

This thirteen-track project, recorded in 2007, opens and closes with elegiac excerpts from Joni Mitchell s Shadows and Light, and features a spare and soulful reading of Neil Young s Old Man and a hush-toned, harmonium-tinged take on Tom Waits Take It with Me. McGarry s musical rendering of poet e.e. cummings i carry your heart with me (i carry it in is carried off with finesse. Object Devotion is a collaborative effort between Souza, Kinhan and Eldridge feeling waltz-like, like Miles Davis-meets-Willie Nelson. Eldridge s Busy Being Blue and the Kinhan / Eldridge There Alone Go I, ring with steel-guitar/Chet Baker-ish style balladry and hand-drummed hues. Kinhan s Lavaliere dances with world rhythms, Bleckmann s Orchard rings with tabernacle tenderness, complemented by the lullaby lilt of Longing, augmented by bass clarinetist Michael McGinnis and cellist Jody Redhage. The CD s lone instrumental/worldless vocal track, These Things Take Time is an uplifting, mid-tempo selection laced with Monder s flying and fluid solo. Throughout this exceptional recording, the vocal quintet s contrapuntal harmonies, silken phrasing, and soulful improvisations traverse and morph genres with ease and invention. Hopefully, each song reveals the curiosity and uniqueness of each voice, Luciana Souza writes in the CD liner notes, and the wonderful and intangible thing that happens when a group of friends blend their voices and sensibilities into one.