by Lars Gotrich

  • Chrissy Wolpert leads the Assembly of Light Choir, a rotating cast of 20 female vocalists, as it performs with The Body, a doom-metal band, on June 24 at St.Stephen's Episcopal church in Washington, D.C.
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    Chrissy Wolpert leads the Assembly of Light Choir, a rotating cast of 20 female vocalists, as it performs with The Body, a doom-metal band, on June 24 at St.Stephen's Episcopal church in Washington, D.C.
    Photos by Tucker Walsh/NPR
  • Singers from the Assembly of Light Choir hold hands as they prepare for their performance later that evening.
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    Singers from the Assembly of Light Choir hold hands as they prepare for their performance later that evening.
  • Guitarist Garrett Underwood (left) and drummer Joshy Brettell from the D.C. death-doom metal band Ilsa chill in their van before heading into St. Stephen's for their evening performance.
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    Guitarist Garrett Underwood (left) and drummer Joshy Brettell from the D.C. death-doom metal band Ilsa chill in their van before heading into St. Stephen's for their evening performance.
  • Isaac Jones, guitarist for Braveyoung, unpacks a tympani before the band's performance.
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    Isaac Jones, guitarist for Braveyoung, unpacks a tympani before the band's performance.
  • Lee Burford (right), drummer for The Body, and Zac Jones, drummer for Braveyoung, look at a painting in the St. Stephen's sanctuary.
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    Lee Burford (right), drummer for The Body, and Zac Jones, drummer for Braveyoung, look at a painting in the St. Stephen's sanctuary.
  • Tatyana Yanishevsky (center) rehearses with the Assembly of Light Choir.
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    Tatyana Yanishevsky (center) rehearses with the Assembly of Light Choir.
  • The sanctuary of St. Stephen's church, through The Body's bass drum.
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    The sanctuary of St. Stephen's church, through The Body's bass drum.
  • The classical-leaning post-rock band Braveyoung opens for The Body.
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    The classical-leaning post-rock band Braveyoung opens for The Body.
  • Concert organizer Beck Levy (right) stamps an attendee's hand at the church entrance.
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    Concert organizer Beck Levy (right) stamps an attendee's hand at the church entrance.
  • With Orion on vocals, Ilsa ended the evening with some crusty death-doom metal.
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    With Orion on vocals, Ilsa ended the evening with some crusty death-doom metal.
  • Jenufa Kent (center, hand on chest) of Vienna, Va., watches her daughter, Natalja, perform with the choir.
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    Jenufa Kent (center, hand on chest) of Vienna, Va., watches her daughter, Natalja, perform with the choir.
  • The Body's Buford and guitarist Chip King perform as the choir looks on.
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    The Body's Buford and guitarist Chip King perform as the choir looks on.
  • Wolpert leads the choir in song.
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    Wolpert leads the choir in song.
  • Attendees watch the choir from the balcony.
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    Attendees watch the choir from the balcony.
  • Just as they entered through the center of the church singing, the members of the Assembly of Light Choir walk back to end the performance.
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    Just as they entered through the center of the church singing, the members of the Assembly of Light Choir walk back to end the performance.
  • Caitlin Johnston of Providence, R.I., hugs Wolpert after their performance.
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    Caitlin Johnston of Providence, R.I., hugs Wolpert after their performance.

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On Friday, June 24, The Body — usually a duo from Providence, R.I. — filled St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., with bodies, equipment and sound. The band packed three massive speaker cabinets, Lee Buford's equally massive-sounding drums that looked like something out of a Mario Bros. game, and a 14-member all-female choir into the church's sanctuary, and still, guitarist Chip King screamed louder than all of it ... without a microphone. All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood, which made my top ten albums of 2010, is a sludgy, noisy doom-metal record that thrives on volume, but I wasn't quite prepared for the bone-rattling decibels when I first saw The Body this past spring on a tour with Whitehorse. But on a week and a half-long tour that just wrapped up on Sunday, the Providence, R.I.-based duo was joined by the Assembly of Light Choir — a rotating cast of roughly 20 women with varying levels of vocal experience that sang two tracks on the album — in a collaborative performance.

The Assembly of Light Choir performs with The Body at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City.

Live in Concert

The Body With Assembly Of Light Choir In Concert

I had the opportunity to see two of these shows one night after the other. First, in the modestly contemporary St. Stephen's church not too far from my home, which NPR photo intern Tucker Walsh captures beautifully in the photo essay above. Between the natural, but not too boomy reverb of the sanctuary and sitting in pews with an audience that likely had not been to church in who-knows-how-long, the performance was nearly a religious experience. Then I took a bus up to New York City to see the performance with almost double the choir at Le Poisson Rouge.

In the back of St. Stephens while opening band Braveyoung sound checked (local D.C. death-doom Ilsa closed the evening), I asked guitarist Chip King about how a band like The Body not only hooked up with the Assembly of Light Choir, but also what it's like to tour with so many moving parts. We also veered into a discussion about corporate-sponsored metal shows and "life branding."

Turns out that a swimmin' hole is crucial to the success of the day.