7. The Choir Of New College OxfordAgnus Dei (Music Of Inner Harmony)

It’s probably worth saying that the religious aspect wasn’t initially what attracted me to this record. It’s not needed. You don’t need to understand the piety behind it. You don’t need to be aware of the context to experience a tangible, physical response to the music. There’s something ancient, primordial about harmonised voices. For years, I was addicted to the sensation that listening to this recording produced. When I plugged in my headphones, it was like being suddenly suspended in a vast blackness, overwhelmed by the beauty, as well as the sadness and deep sense of longing. It’s a kind of high – a spiritual high – that I became utterly hooked on as a teenager. I wasn’t going out and taking drugs, so this was my holistic release.