From the Dark Side of the Moon

Ex-October Project singer Mary Fahl undertakes the audacious feat of remaking Pink Floyd’s signature album and, against all odds, manages to pull it off convincingly. Her success is due in large part to her remarkable contralto voice, an instrument of near-operatic power. Beyond this, she possesses the imagination to find renewed meaning in Dark Side of the Moon’s bleak vision of humanity, savoring its mordant humor and drawing out the torment buried within its cynicism. She’s aided by the atmospheric production of David Werner, as well as the multi-instrumental prowess of veteran rock sideman Mark Doyle. Fahl approaches tracks like “Breathe” and “Brain Damage” with the commanding presence of a high priestess, wailing and beseeching over swirling ambient soundscapes. On “Money,” she twists and teases the lyric into the half-spoken testimony of a bluesy debauchee. Her reading of “Eclipse” concludes the album on a grandly elegiac note. Along the way, she embroiders the material with shamanistic chants and mantras that add a mystical layer to the project.