This is the debut album from the adventurous and renowned vocal octet Roomful of Teeth. From the neo-alpine yodel on Rinde Eckert's "Cesca's View" to Caleb Burhans's stirring post-minimalist take on bel canto singing in "No", the album breathes fresh life into the a cappella landscape. One of this generation's most dynamic vocal talents, Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs, contributes two electrifying songs that explore a range of world-inspired grooves. African pygmy yodels, Inuit rhythmic pulsing, Appalachian hymn tunes, and bracing Eastern European belting all filter through Garbus's powerful compositional voice. For her Pulitzer Prize-winning four-part composition Partita for 8 Voices, Caroline Shaw uses her insider vantage as a Roomful of Teeth vocalist to create a sonically exquisite and emotionally charged journey through the ensemble's soundworld.