Review Summary: Unable to match the heights of Chapter 1, but still packed with great moments.
My favourite albums of all time do one thing: Immerse me.
When I listen to music that I love, I don't feel like I'm listening to music. Instead, I see it. I picture whatever story is happening like I've been placed in the middle of a movie or stage performance. When I listen to Static Prevails by Jimmy Eat World, I'm in a snowy, desolate American landscape and old, rural buildings. When I listen to dredg's El Cielo, I'm in a strange, ethereal gallery following an artist stuck alone in some kind of limbo. When I listen to the Acts series by the Dear Hunter, I'm following the main character through all his tragic adventures.
Conversely, I don't love music that doesn't take me away. That's not to say I can't like it, or that I hate it. I just don't LOVE it. It doesn't reach the pinnacle of music for me, personally.
I mentioned The Dear Hunter. The latest works - Antimai and the newly released Sunya - don't take me away. I instead think about the music. I think about the production. I think about what's missing or what's too loud or too quiet. I don't get lost in it, and that's why I get nothing out of it.
Major Parkinson albums are typically pretty good at immersion for me. The first two albums aren't really cohesive units in terms of story, concept or theme, but individual tracks can pull me into its embrace. Twilight Cinema and Blackbox are great for immersion. Blackbox, for example, whisks me away into some dark, desolate asylum. That album is a strange case, though, because although it wholly takes me away, it's very, very dark and not a particularly nice place to be unless I'm in a particular mood! That's why I wouldn't call it a favourite unless I'm in the mood that's called for.
The Valesa series is what we're here for. I'm reviewing Chapter 2, but that necessarily means that Chapter 1 has to be mentioned. Not only does it have to be mentioned, but having this format means that Chapter 2 should require the context and tone that Chapter 1 provides.
For those who don't already know, Valesa Chapter 1: Velvet Prison is one of my all-time favourites. If it wasn't for the bonus nostalgia Jimmy Eat World's Static Prevails has, Chapter 1 would be my favourite album of all time. Why? Well, for the reason I've already gone into: It immerses me. It swallows me whole. I don't need to think about the production of the music, or what instruments are playing, etc... It's irrelevant, because I'm past those potential obstacles and living in the universe it's created.
This was the album that got me into Major Parkinson. I found Heart of Hickory first, but it was Valesa 1 that truly hooked me. It's interesting, because this is the album that seems to be most divisive among MP fans, and a lot of the reasons that pop up are comparing it to previous works of theirs. Since I didn't have that context, it didn't hinder my experience. Unlike many MP fans, a lack of prominent guitar work didn't faze me, because I wasn't used to it being front-and-centre for the band. I dove in unburdened by expectation, and I found myself falling in love.
Chapter 1, to my subjective ears, follows a character who's striving for success. He's fed up with the mundane and the ordinary, and he wants to be something akin to the next Elvis. Chapter 1 spends a lot of time going through the character's past and what's brought him to where he is, before the album concludes with him finally taking the step into the spotlight.
So now, finally, we enter Chapter 2.
The immediate problem is not at all Chapter 2's fault. Chapter 1 is so sprawling, so dense and winding, yet somehow so cohesive (come on, the first major track is a piano ballad about looking to the future, and it's immediately followed by a synth-pop ditty about staying in the moment, and yet it works!) that Chapter 2 would have to match the scope and breadth just in order not to feel small. They could be the best-written nine tracks ever, but it wouldn't matter at all if it didn't match Chapter 1's broad and varied canvas.
This is why, upon the reveal of the tracklisting, long before I'd heard anything more than the lead single, I was worried. Chapter 1 had 17 tracks over one hour of run time. Chapter 2 had 9 tracks over 44 minutes. Straight away, the album was smaller. Gone were the small interludes like Velvet Moon, Lemon Symphony and Ride in the Whirlwind.
Nevertheless, when the album finally came out, I put aside the worries and just let the music enter my ears. How did it go?
Elevator Pitch is nothing, really. But that's not bad in context. In fact, I love how the alarm that ends Heroes from Chapter 1 starts Chapter 2 off, meaning that the records play seamlessly into each other. That's rare, and a great detail. The rest of the atsmophere track is essentially there to say, "Hey, we're back in the Valesa verse!" And that's great. Just what I wanted, honestly. I was in, already embraced by the familiar sounds of the elevator.
The elevator music is from Kiss Me Now, but then there's distorted music from another track that I can't quite place... Maybe something we haven't heard yet?
Anyway, we emerge nicely into the first main track: Showbiz. It's the best song of the album by far. It's full of big sound, Jon's enthusiastic wailing, and some excellent 80's synth lines. It's the perfect follow-up to Chapter 1, similar to Live Forever or Fantasia Me Now! Even upon first hearing the track, standing outside my Oslo hotel a few hours before the release gig, I knew that this would be one I'd love. There are various callbacks to the previous Chapter, starting with the key vocal motif "Show me the killer." There are musical hints to Irina Margareta in here, towards the end of the track, and it feels just as satisfying.
The second single, Superdad, comes across as very similar to Showbiz. It's relatively upbeat with more of Jon's charismatic wails. It's here where it starts to become apparent that the makeup of the sound is different. Guitar and horns take a big step forward in the mix, while used sparingly throughout Chapter 1. The guitar is here to stay right up until the last track. Technically superb, and without the prior context of Chapter 1 it would be hugely welcomed, but it's the first sign that this album is much different.
This is an appropriate moment to pause and make note that Chapters 1 and 2 were recorded very differently. The band let us know plainly that most of Chapter 2 was recorded live. From this song onwards, it's very apparent that the change was made, and the music is much more focused on what can be done live, rather than what can be made in multiple sessions in a studio.
The next three songs - Father Superior, Viva the Apocalypse and The Doctor in Command - are somewhat shorter and more immediate. They fit incredibly well together and, as pointed out by many people, bring back the early MP sound in the new synth-glossed style. There are melodic but zany guitar lines and aggressively-delivered vocals straddling over the top like a trapeze artist.
It took a little longer to get into these tracks, but they are very enjoyable, and I find them all wiggling into my brain like the wacky earworms they are!
Up to this point, my immersion has been on the verge. Depending on where I am or what I'm doing, I can stay in touch, but it's a little more difficult for reasons I'll round up later.
Then comes the double-whammy: Karma Supernova and Maybelline. I'm afraid to say that this is where my immersion tends to break.
It's not because they're bad tracks, of course. I think they're the weakest on the record, but that's only relative to the others which are all very good to phenomenal. Rather, it's because I don't feel like I'm in the Valesaverse anymore. They're jarring, raw and irrecoverably bleak. They would fit far better on Blackbox.
For one thing, the first half of the near-nine-minute Karma Supernova is entirely based on a Blackbox motif (Edison's Black Maria and the title track.) I do wonder if it's because the band associate that motif with a situation or feeling that is relevant at this stage of the Valesa story. Possibly. The second half consists of what I've been reliably informed is their stab at black metal. Not a genre I'm too familiar with, so I'll just go with that! For me, it's the weakest section of the album. The song at least finishes with a minute or so of heavily distorted Claudia Cox making a cameo in a very Valesa-sounding climax. I enjoyed that bit.
Maybelline sounds like Claudia Cox's more concise version of Isabel, with a similar chorus delivery. Honestly, I don't know where this song fits into the narrative, and I'm still hoping to figure it out soon. Until then, there's not much to say.
The album comes off from two very dark and messy tracks with a complete one-eighty to bring it to a close. After gradually drifting away from the Valesa sound over the course of the album, we suddenly get dragged right back in with something that could comfortably sit in Chapter 1. Gone are the guitars and the horns, replaced by a calming reprisal of the piano line from Behind the Next Door. Kiss Me Now is a delightful little piece to end on, with Jon and Claudia bringing back the duet that made songs like Saturday Night and Fantasia Me Now so special. It's a very touching moment that actually reminded me, "Oh yeah, we're still in Valesa. Wait, how did we get here?"
There are no thrills or spills, no dark shadow clouding us. No, it's just calm, tuneful, and touching. It reminds us that, whoever the Valesa main character is, they're still in here somewhere, keeping ahold of what truly matters. The second best song on the album.
Does it sound like Isabel? Heart of Hickory? Twilight Cinema? No. Should it? In my opinion, no. It sounds like Valesa, and that's what these ears have come for.
That's the track run-down. It's only half the story. Being a concept album series, we'll have to dig deeper. I won't do that for this review, because there's a LOT to unpack. I will, however, summarise what I currently think is happening in this album:
The protagonist has made it into showbiz, as he desired in Chapter 1. However, he finds that he's losing a bit of himself in the celebrity culture tied to it. Along comes a charismatic religious figure - Father Superior - who sees the protagonist as a vulnerable vehicle for his cult ambitions. Akin to Jim Jones, he portrays himself as God reincarnate, but secretly partakes in various bad habits and contains a deeply harmful narcissism. Again, like Jim Jones, he preaches for revolution, declares America a doomed nation bent on dividing its populace. True or not, he uses this to build his flock. Our protagonist begins to fall into the trap, espousing the messages that have been drilled in by the cult sermons.
Throughout Chapter 1, our protagonist has searched for meaning. The cult leader has given him meaning, but it's more damaging that he can currently perceive.
That's a brief summary of the main plot, as I see it. Of course, there are more nuances and themes, but I'll save all that for another review.
That's the individual tracks and story done. I'll finish with some more overarching thoughts.
This album is very good. There are no duds, and even the weakest tracks have aspects that I really enjoy. MP are yet to release a dud album, and long may that continue. However, being that this is part two of a probably-three-part series, it must be compared to its sister album Chapter 1...
Chapter 1 is superior in pretty much every aspect. There is more variety, and yet it feels more cohesive. It winds through history and topics like a roller coaster and yet feels more balanced. Its emotional punches hit twice as hard. Its characters feel more grounded and relatable. At an hour long, it feels an appropriate length, whereas Chapter 2 feels like it finishes much earlier than its considerably shorter runtime would indicate. In Chapter 1, the guest singers were sprinkled throughout the album, taking turns to vocal-battle with Jon, whereas on Chapter 2, they're condensed into specific portions of the album. Linn Frokedal is missing! (Not really a criticism; we're not dealing with people who earn a living with music. These guys and gals have limited time and it could be due to that. Nobody's fault, but... I do miss her vocals in the Valesaverse. Hope you're doing well, Linn!)
And perhaps the biggest downgrade? The absense of the interludes. Yes, those little snippets that often get labelled filler. Now, everybody is entitled to their opinion, so if you prefer the album without the little vignettes, then good on you. I personally think that they worked perfectly, and not only on Valesa 1, but on Blackbox as well. They offered temporary reprieve from the big, meaty stuff, repositioned our expectations, provided counterpoints or nuance that just seemed to make those big tracks BIGGER.
Most of all, they allowed reflection. Take Velvet Moon, specifically. It's a short, piano-led Jon monologue in what can only be described as a taxi. He's venting to the taxi driver, a guy named Dave who is seemingly just there to be a mirror for our character's musings. It's conversational. It's casual. It's one of the best MP songs ever written. I could gush for ages about this "filler," but I'll just leave you with a thought: Would the shift from Jonah into Irina Margerita be as effective if we just faded to silence between them instead?
Chapter 2 lacks these small take-a-breath-and-reflect sections, and it suffers heavily from it, in my opinion. It loses the cinematic feel, the flow, and the dynamic. Apart from the opening Elevator Pitch and closing Kiss Me Now, there's little room to breath. Even just one or two interludes could have turned this good album into a great one.
But that, again, is a problem of Valesa's own making. Chapter 2 would always be compared to Chapter 1, and that's a height that will be nigh impossible to match. As a standalone album, Chapter 2 is very good. Unbalanced, but very good. Does it keep me immersed? Mostly.
Track scores:
Elevator Pitch: 8/10
Showbiz: 9.5/10
Superdad: 8/10
Father Superior: 7.5/10
Viva the Apocalypse!: 7/10
The Doctor in Command: 7/10
Karma Supernova: 5.5/10
Maybelline: 6/10
Kiss Me Now!: 9/10
