Progressive Rock
If you liked their first record, “Troika” (2022), well, they’ve gone and done it again. Since the law never came after them, they got bold and made “Sophomore”, which in the United States is an expression roughly equivalent to saying “second”.
Nick D’Virgilio (Big Big Train, ex-Spock’s Beard), Neal Morse (The Neal Morse Band, Transatlantic, Flying Colors, ex-Spock’s Beard), Ross Jennings (Haken). What could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a lot, actually, because deep down they prove to be a bit cheesy.
We open with “Hard to Be Easy”. A cute little pop song with excellent vocal arrangements, a chorus of “ti-ri-ri-ri-ri-ti-ri-ri-ri” (literally), and a key change in the second half of the track. We close out with some “dam-dam-dam-di-re” (literally) before the acoustic guitar solo. Personally, I find myself missing a few “sha-la-las”. This isn’t looking good at all.
In ballad form, “Linger at the Edge of My Memory” unfolds, which might remind you of songs by America. We continue with magnificent vocal work, since these three clearly know exactly what they’re doing. And this time the composition itself is genuinely lovely, and considerably more appealing in its overall harmonic arrangements. Now this is looking a lot better.
And it seems we’re playing a game of hot and cold here. On “Tiny Little Fires”, keyboards of dubious taste with recurring little bells repeated to the point of exhaustion, and equally cheesy vocal melodies, plus a horrendous keyboard motif, make this track unsuitable for diabetics.
The sound of a steel guitar gives “Right Where You Should Be” an American-folk feel. Everything about this track couldn’t be more timid or clichéd: “ti-ri-ti-ti-ri, la-la-la-la-la” (literally). On “The Weary One”, the string, cello and backing-vocal arrangements make for a very pleasant listen, though we still get a healthy dose of extreme preciousness that probably isn’t to everyone’s taste.
And like a breath of air for someone who was drowning, the rock rhythms of “Mama” finally give us a consistent, varied track, where the three musicians operate on ground where their ideas work much better. On top of that, it doesn’t lose this record’s defining trait: the magnificent voices that characterise it.
But that’s it, mind you — let’s not go getting too unchristian with the devil’s music. We move on to a more acoustic track, “I’m Not Afraid”, which is fairly expressive, with a touch of theatricality that makes it entertaining, especially in its interlude with a guitar solo and a fun vocal ostinato.
Continuing with melodies that might remind us of bands like Crosby, Stills & Nash, we find “Weighs Me Down”, which becomes a bit repetitive since it doesn’t explore many ideas. And sticking with the United States: if we were told “Walking on Water” was a Doobie Brothers song, we’d believe it. A fairly standard country-rock track, with a fade-out ending that makes it even more predictable.
And we close with “Anywhere the Wind Blows”, in case we hadn’t had enough saccharine songs already — the kind that at concerts get you raising your hands and swaying them left and right. We’re back to onomatopoeic choruses that prove the saying that music transports you, because I listen to this track and I picture myself leaving one bar for another.
In short, it’s a somewhat bipolar record. Very, very topical, too, since some listeners will surely think, on hearing it, that this could get them accused of terrorism, while others will decide it’s nothing that serious and that amnesty would be best. Judge for yourselves instead of uncritically trusting whoever tells you they’re either brilliant or terrible. You could also just listen to the album.
D’Virgilio, Morse & Jennings bandcamp
Writer: David Sàez