The first single from The Books’s highly anticipated follow-up to Lost and Safe, “Beautiful People” finds found-sound dynamic duo Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong waxing philosophical about the trigonometric twelfth root of two over ‘a three part christian harmony, a sort-of euro-disco-trash-beat, and an orchestra’s worth of sampled brass.’ The harmony, borrowed from a traditional Danish hymn, is hushed and reverent, and unfolds gracefully amidst the lyrics, which read like an entry from the pages of a mathematical catechism. “Behold the finite set of thirteen convex figure,” priest Zammuto beseeches his congregation at the Introit of this numerical liturgy. As the musical mass progresses, Zammuto instructs us to “genuflect before pure abstraction,” before uttering the ineffable name of his abstract deity, that is, 1.05946.
What follows is an offering of “seven pieces, endlessly manifold, self-contained, replete,” before a peaceful benediction comprised of horn samples featuring sackbuts, viols, crumhorns, foghorns, alpenhorns, and angelic voices praising in unison. Composed in seven, which Zammuto refers to as a “godly number,” “Beautiful People,” is an exercise in veneration, a poly-rhythmic prayer every bit as calculated as its lyrics suggest. Amen.
