Pope John Paul II: Abba Pater (Sony)

More William S. Burroughs than Hildegaard van Bingen, Pope John Paul II's liturgical cadences in the gravel-of-ages voice reunifies a Euro-Babel of English, French, Italian and Latin (no German) in that timeless Polish accent. The prayers and plainchants are chosen from ceremonies before vast crowds in Venezuela, Maritius, India, Castel Gandolfo or St Peter's cathedral, re-mixed over Leonardo De Amicis' elegiac film-like orchestral music, and embellished with choirs and soprano Catharina Scharp. The "interior pilgrimage" floats over some very lounge-y trip-hop and pagan new age techno - an unholy marriage, you might think, but try the hunting horns behind The Lord's Prayer from the Slavonic liturgy, with Bratislava's Echo choir. Play it loud, even if you ain't got religion.

By Mic Moroney