Odawas

“Alleluia“
from the album Raven and the White Night
2007
iTunes

As for the word “sublime,” I would reserve it for one track from Raven and the White Night: the beautiful “Alleluia,“ whose refrain features some of the best use of whistling I’ve ever heard. The moment at which the whistling kicks in after a moment of silence is when the whole meek, paranoid nature of the record (and even the rest of the song itself) suddenly vanishes: it’s not just whistling in the dark; it’s whistling to kill the dark. Then it cuts out and [Michael] Tapscott’s voice slowly enunciates the four syllables of the title. They are less a hymn of praise than a delicate bargaining plea with God.