Akacia - An Other Life

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Akacia - An Other Life

Artist:	Akacia
Title:	An Other Life
Label:	Musea FGBG 4515
Length(s):	57 minutes
Year(s) of release:	2003
Month of review:	[01/2004]

Line up

Eric Naylor - voice
Michael Tenenbaum - guitars, keys, voice
Steve Stortz - bass
Doug Meadows - drums, percussion

Tracks

1)	Order Of Events	16.36
2)	Mary	6.41
3)	Hold Me	11.02
4)	Journal	22.41

Summary

Akacia is a new Massachusetts band preferring epic songs, referring to the time in the seventies when such bands as Mirthrandir and Starcastle ruled the US prog scene.

The music

One of the things of epics is that they tell a story, as does this band's material. For this to work out well there has to be a balance between vocal and musical storytelling. Unfortunately this album features more an alternation of those than a merging, which results in vocal sections which are, well, vocal.

Naylor's voice is a pretty decent one, the words come out easily enough most of the time, but it lacks in strength and reach, which tells in such sections which are a bit stronger, such as the bridge in Mary. Naylor comes across shouty and unconvincing in such sections.

The majority of tracks show decent complexity in instrumental sections, but there are sections which have a poppy and rather neo feel. The guitars come across strong enough, supported well by bass and drums. The keys are less convincing, and more for filling in in a light wizzy way. Hold Me starts off with a lengthy instrumental section, led by guitar, supported with synth and organ. The shift from this instrumental bit into the vocal one is a bit stiff, making it sound deliberate. Instruments and voice do work well together on this track, which is a plus and the strong section towards the end sounds pretty good. Pity there's not more of this kind of material on the disc.

The start of Journal sounds pretty mellow after the strong ending of its predecessor. Some instrumental sections are unenticing and the vocals once again lack bite, and are sometimes off by just the slightest bit. This, frankly, is a good example of a track that should never have reached its length. Sure, there is that epic feel about it, and there is a story to tell, but just not enough for 22 minutes.

And just so you know: the lyrics are of a pretty religious nature.

Conclusion

An Other Life is a pretty decent album, but not really more than that. The instrumentalists perform well enough, but the compositions lack fluency, making them sound contrived, not necessarily more than a chain of loose ideas. Also Naylor's voice often seems to lack the strength to carry compositions with such lengthy vocal sections, whilst the climax of Hold Me actually shows that there is such strength. But I think the main flaw lies in the compositions. First of all trying to write almost only long or epic compositions might fit in with the progressive heritage, but it doesn't make for good music necessarily: not every idea can be drawn out beyond the ten minute mark.

This band might be compared to Salem Hill, but the latter has managed to come up with more good compositions, after, admittedly, having had more tries. Another likeness is to Saens, another band stretching too many ideas past ten minutes.

Packing it all up I'd say that practice could make perfect: the band shows some strong moments compositionally, but not enough for a strong album, by some distance still. More subtlety and accepting that some tracks just are that bit shorter will help.