In my wildest dreams, I would never have believed that music could ever hurt me. Believe me when I tell you, a simple recording can be dangerous.
Friday afternoon I got a call from Franklin Hoyne over at In The Mix Recording Services. Franklin and I used to DJ at the same clubs before we got old and boring.
We worked together at In The Mix until it was sold to new owners. The new management and I couldn’t stand each other, so I set off on my own.
Franklin is the only competent guy still working there, so he often needs to outsource some of his projects to me. This time I should’ve let him go to voicemail.
“Hey Michael, I need your help. I got a recording here, this choral thing. The guy I had working on this project recorded the show live. Before he could finish the project, he died”.
“He died? What happened?”
“Honestly…it’s all kinds of messed up. Thing is, it needs to be done ASAP and I’m deep in a bunch of other projects and..”.
“Say no more. Have someone drop it by”.
“Thanks Michael”.
I thought it would be a few hours before I got the recordings so I headed to the Mexican place on Maxwell Street for some tostadas. Franklin texted me the recordings would be dropped off in twenty minutes, so I paid and rushed home.
Someone left the package in the lobby of my building. I’m the only one living there now, so no neighbors would swipe it.
The stuff was in a big paper envelope marked:
Lake Shore Chorale
Choral Concert. Recorded 4/30/23 at James Easton Performance Hall.
There was a flash drive and a program.
I’m not exactly a choral music fan, so I didn’t know most of the songs. I recognized a few titles though. Hymns from my childhood.
My grandma would drag me to church on Sundays while my Mom worked. Songs like “Holy, Holy, Holy”, “Are You Washed In The Blood?” and “Here I Am Lord” were her favorites.
Mom said that Grandma was just trying to give me “a good base”. I didn’t understand then, but I do now. I’m not a church goer, but I’m not an atheist either. How would Grandma take that?
One hymn in the program stood out. “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”. I remember it because I would tell Grandma it sounded like something knights would listen to.
Being alone in the building meant I could work all night and not worry about neighbors.
Old and boring yes, but I’m still a night owl.
I downloaded the files and sat back to give them a listen. Lucky for me, the live recording was pretty good, so I wouldn’t need to try and fix it in post.
Franklin called me when I was almost done listening to the recording.
“You get the envelope?”
“Yeah, I’m listening to the tracks right now. Everything sounds good so far”.
“Good, good. Listen, did you download the tracks yet?”
“Uh yeah…. I’m listening to them”.
“Good, good. I was asking because we had them backed up here, but there’s no sign of them anywhere. So be careful with that flash, and back up the downloads. It feels like this project is cursed”.
“Because the last guy working on it died?”
“Because of him. Because this performance was supposed to be some huge reopening, but since it went sideways the people who organized it are on my ass. They keep hassling me about how long mixing and mastering will take”.
“What happened?”
“Everyone at this thing got food poisoning. Don’t know how, no caterer there when I was setting up. Plus the place they recorded this thing is having all sorts of electrical problems too. As a result, they’re up our ass about the recording”.
“That’s…. a lot”.
“Yeah….I appreciate you. Thanks for letting me vent and dealing with this. Just do me one more favor and keep those tracks safe. There’s no back up on my end”.
“You got it”.
“Thanks Michael”.
Hearing the final track drew me back to my childhood Sundays.
“Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand
Ponder nothing earthly-minded,”
There was a loud thud against my living room window. I paused the music and ran over, expecting to see a drunk throwing crap at the apartment windows above.
Instead, a crow was lying on the window ledge. Its head looked lopsided, like it’s neck was broken. I watched it to see if it was really dead, contemplating what I should do if it was.
Should I leave it there, or would it attract other animals? Maybe I could scoop it up, to put it in the garbage shoot?
After a few minutes I decided to leave it be. Outside was nature, and nature could handle one dead crow. I didn’t want to be infected with something after all.
My apartment felt still, my spine cold. As I went to take another look at the crow, my mouse fell to the ground and the music started up again, louder than before.
“Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand
Ponder nothing earthly-minded….”
I stopped the music with my keyboard and picked up my mouse. It was time for a break.
After turning on the TV I shuffled to the fridge to grab a beer. A news anchor’s voice came from the other room.
“Motive unknown at this time. Police have determined Dwojak murdered his wife and their infant son before murdering their next door neighbor Anton Davis. Davis had made the call to police when he heard a commotion next door. When he tried to intervene, Dwojak stabbed him repeatedly. By the time police were on scene, Davis had succumbed to his wounds and Dwojak had taken his own life”.
Pulsing music started up as I walked back in.
“When we come back, an iconic Chicago business will be honored next week for serving some of the city’s best hot dogs for seventy five years. More on that after the break”.
The anchors both smiled as the pulsing music faded. I clicked to the next channel, then the next, then the next. There wasn’t anything good on, so I settled on the next news broadcast.
“According to police sources, it’s believed the perpetrator committed the crime while suffering from some sort of mental health crisis. Police are also investigating to see if there were any religious motivations to the crimes”.
That was enough death and dismay, break time over. I turned the speakers at my computer down and pressed play.
“Christ our God to Earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.”
Hearing those words unearthed feelings I haven’t had since I was a kid. As a boy sitting in the pew next to my Grandma, I felt safe and loved.
Sure, on the way to church I wished I was home playing video games or watching cartoons. But once I got there and settled in, it felt like Grandma, and God himself, were watching out for me.
Soon I was lost in the words of the song, not really paying attention to the quality of the vocals or the recording. Drowsiness was creeping in, even though I was wide awake moments before.
“Alleluia, Lord Most High”.
My eyes felt heavy, so it was hard to focus on the screen. The audience was clapping and whistling at the end of the performance.
This went on for about a minute more, then I could hear a baby crying. Bit by bit, the clapping stopped and the crying grew louder.
“Where’s that coming from,” one spectator asked.
“I don’t know,” another said.
There was a popping sound, then another, and another. My eyes were no longer heavy.
As the crying got louder, the audience grew more frantic.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” someone screamed.
People started to wretch. I could hear the splatters of vomit hitting the floor. There was one final popping noise and the recording stopped. It wasn’t like the other sounds, lightbulbs perhaps? This sound was the recording equipment going haywire.
There was a terrible gurgling in my stomach. I rushed to the bathroom and puked in the sink. My stomach felt hot, but my forehead was ice cold. Then the music started up again in the other room. It sounded like a recording from some bygone era.
“King of kings, yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
In the body and the blood…..”
I rinsed out my mouth and walked into the living room. The music stopped itself. As I stepped closer to my computer, the music started up again, more warbly and distorted than before.
“He will give to all the faithful,
His own self for heav’nly food”.
When I got to the computer, I powered it down. The taste of vomit was still fresh in my mouth.
I went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. My heart was beating hard. For a minute I was worried I was having a heart attack. I scanned the living room, as the water filled.
When I was sure there was nothing lurking in there I took a swig of water. It tasted metallic so I spit it out. How could water from the fridge taste “rusty”.
Instead of a cool drink of water, the glass was filled with blood. The glass shattered when it hit the ground. Crimson fluid spread out across the kitchen floor.
Every light in the living room flickered, then suddenly shut off.
“Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand
Ponder nothing earthly-minded,
For with blessing in his hand
Christ our God to Earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand
King of kings, yet born of….”
I yanked the plug out of the wall. Sweat dripped off of my brow.
“Mary,
As of old on Earth He Stood
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
In the body and the blood,
He will give to all the faithful,
His own self for heav’nly food”.
Shoes already on my feet, I grabbed my phone and ran out my front door. On my way down the stairs I almost tripped and fell a couple of times.
Upstairs, the music was still playing. This time it was accompanied by the baby’s crying and a woman screaming in agony. The recording echoed through the stairwell.
“Rank on rank the host of Heaven,
Spread its vanguard on the way
As the Light of light descendeth,
From the realms of endless day….”
I rushed through the lobby and out the front door. When I reached the outside I tried calling Franklin. Straight to voicemail. When the greeting ended, I left a message.
“Franklin, we need to talk. I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but there is some really strange shit happening ever since I started listening to that recording you sent me.
I’m going to spend the night at a hotel. I…..I can’t stay in my apartment. Call me as soon as you get this. It’s Michael”.
After making my way through the late night foodies and drunks, I arrived at a hotel. Once I got upstairs I checked the sink and the shower. Water, not blood, came out.
I put my phone on the nightstand and sat down. My heartbeat was starting to drop to a normal range. Perhaps I was over stressed. Maybe I ate or drank something off.
Just like The Temptations said, “It’s just my imagination”. My phone started ringing. Instinctively, I picked it up and answered.
“Franklin?”
“That the powers of Hell may vanish”.
I ripped off my phone’s case and took out the battery.
The room phone rang. Slowly, I reached out to the receiver and picked it up.
“Hello,” I said with the trembling voice of a child who didn’t WANT to believe in monsters.
“As the darkness clears away”.
Without hesitating, I yanked the phone cord out of the wall. It started to rain outside. I just sat there, waiting. Were the phones going to ring? Was the TV going to sing? Was the toilet going to gurgle blood all over the floor?
Paranoia must have given way to exhaustion, because at some point, I fell asleep.