Review Summary: If you can dig through Act 1's overly excessive nature, you'll find an emotional gem gleaming with emotion, beauty, and promise, with only a few minor blemishes.
Throughout the history of music, artists have relied on the power of emotions to write beautiful music and move their audiences. Without emotion, even the greatest ballad in the world would collapse. The power of sadness, of death, of love; musicians know its power, and use it well. Daniel Victor, the mastermind behind Neverending White Lights, surely knows of the power of feelings. With Act 1: Goodbye Friends of the Heavenly Bodies, he has attempted to write a CD entirely out of sad songs, creating a heart-wrenchingly lovely album that is sadly hindered by shear excessive nature and length.
First, though, some general history. Daniel Victor is a multi-talented composer/performer who, in addition to writing and playing nearly all of the music on Goodbye Friends Of The Heavenly Bodies, also managed to convince a diverse army of guest vocalists, ranging from Our Lady Peace front-man Raine Maida to Alexisonfire crooner Dallas Green, to be featured on this album, simply through calls and e-mails. The result? Seventy-nine minutes of minimalist, simple, yet beautiful music.
As we get waves upon waves of incredibly sad ballads, the stand-out tracks are obviously the ones that break from the form. Tired of Saving Souls is the most obvious of these, with a cheerful little acoustic hook for a base that simply begs for attention, as John Campsey’s smooth and effortless vocal performance put the icing on the cake. Add a lovely xylophone accompaniment, and we get a clear standout among the fray.
There are plenty of other diverse performances throughout the album. They range from the bizarre (electric keyboard opening of Age Of Consent), the uplifting (Ending of a Story’s pounding piano driving force), to the mysterious (the oriental flavorings of How Could I Survive). Though all fairly simple by themselves, they combine to create a wonderful atmosphere that defines the album.
Of course, not all standouts have to, well, stand out. The Grace is a fairly simple acoustic ballad, but the flawless vocal performance carries this song to a whole new level. The lyrics are incredibly depressing, yet the mood Green creates is of hope and longing. Other standout ballads include Raine Maida’s creepy Liar and Chris Gordon’s haunting and emotional Angels & Saints.
Yet, for all of Act 1’s beauty, it is far from perfect. Far too often lovely songs are brought down by sub-par vocal performances. Return Our Lives is a fairly decent song, but is soured by Judah Nagler’s (intentionally?) shaky and uncomfortable vocal performance. Our Final Hymn is one of the best songs on the album musically, but Jimmy Gnecco doesn’t really carry the song to the peak it deserves, which is near inexcusable in its own right. Other examples of lackluster vocals are scattered throughout.
But what’s the real problem with this seventy-nine minute ballad tour-de-force? Well, the fact that it’s a seventy-nine minute ballad tour-de-force. The album is immensely beautiful, but it just runs on way too long for its own good. By the time the last four songs roll around, you’ve basically had your fill of sadness for a while. It’s truly a shame, because Act 1: Goodbye Friends Of The Heavenly Bodies shows incredible potential for this new force in Canadian music. This is an album that leaves you drained (in a good way) and makes you look forward to a crisp, hopefully leaner Act 2.
