In 2005 the world watched in horror as an American city was covered in ten-feet of water and no one did anything. People died, drowned in their houses. I watched about 24-aggregate hours of news footage in the first few days and while I was horrified by our government's slow response, I did comparatively little. I didn't hop a plane. I didn't donate money from the absurd day-rate I made working on a television production. I carried pallets of bottled water to a truck. It took 45-minutes. This is not the part where you feel guilty, but it's not the part where you feel proud either.
Alec Ounsworth was on tour in 2005, fronting the wildly successful Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Their record sounded cool, turned the right heads (Bowie and Byrne) and they had The National opening for them most nights. Then New Orleans drowned on our televisions. I don't suspect Ounsworth feels any more guilty than anyone else but I don't suspect he feels pride either. On "Holy, Holy, Holy Moses (Song For New Orleans)," the debut song from his solo album Mo Beauty, Ounsworth sounds predictably mournful. Even the baroque keyboards in the bridge sound more like a funeral than a Sunday morning service. Otherwise, the arrangement is stripped and close. He hope, next time the water level rises, someone would be there to part the sea. I suspect he thinks we can do better.
Listen :: Alec Ounsworth - "Holy, Holy, Holy Moses (Song For New Orleans)"
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