The Blue Hour album, a collective song cycle by Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Shara Nova, Caroline Shaw, and Sarah Kirkland Snider for vocalist Shara Nova and string orchestra A Far Cry -- released on Nonesuch Records and New Amsterdam Records in October 2022, has received some wonderful press. Here are some choice pull quotes: 

"The 75-minute song cycle flows seamlessly, thanks to a lush, integrated composing style adhered to by Caroline Shaw, Angélica Negrón, Rachel Grimes, Sarah Kirkland Snider and Shara Nova, who sings the entire cycle. The music is gorgeously realized by A Far Cry, the Boston-based chamber orchestra." — NPR
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"A subtle reflection of dehumanisation, examined through alphabetically arranged phrases woven into 40 movements, each created by individual composers—Rachel Grimes, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Angélica Negrón, Shara Nova, and Caroline Shaw." — BBC Music Magazine

‘A semi-operatic song-cycle written collaboratively by a veritable who’s who of new female composers..." — The Guardian

"This architecture lends to The Blue Hour’s compulsive relistenability, new lines emerging as significant with each turn. I want to revisit this album like I revisit certain books every few years or so, using it as a sort of psychological yardstick or Rorschach test to see what stands out. It’s both a means and manifestation of contemplation." — VAN Magazine
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"These five gifted composers speak to a circle of stories – shared influences, revelatory experiences- all riffing off of and taking inspiration from one another, as they respond collectively to a flood of memories from a woman traveling the space between life and death as laid out in the poem." — New Sounds

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