Forgive Durden - Razia's Shadow: A Musical
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RIYL
Say AnythingPanic At the Disco
Saves the Day
Tracklist
1. Genesis(ft. Casey Crescenzo of The Dear Hunter)2. The Missing Piece(ft. Lizzie Huffman of Man In The Blue Man)
3. Life Is Looking Up
4. The Spider And The Lamps(ft. Max Bemis of Say Anything)
5. Toba The Tura(ft. Chris Conley of Saves The Day)
6. The Oracle(ft. Danny Stevens of The Audition)
7. A Thousand Year, Minute-Long Intermission
8. The Exit(ft. Brendon Urie of Panic At the Disco, Dan Young of This Providence)
9. It's True Love(ft. Greta Salpeter of The Hush Sound)
10. Meet The King(ft. Greta Salpeter of The Hush Sound, Nic Newsham of Gatsbys American Dream)
11. Holy The Sea(ft. John Gourley of Portugal. The Man, Kris Anaya of An Angle)
12. Doctor Doctor(ft. Shawn Harris of The Matches)
13. The Apex(ft. Greta Salpeter of The Hush Sound, Brendon Urie of Panic At the Disco)
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When one thinks of a musical, they imagine a story told with songs synthesized within it. Razia’s Shadow pretty much fits that description. The only thing it’s missing from making it a conventional musical is a visual companion of some sort. While something of that nature is allegedly in the works, we’ll have to envision the visual portion ourselves until then.
The story of Razia’s Shadow is a tale of a world split in two by a powerful angel only to be reunited by the power of love. The message of the story is that the “unrelenting constancy of love and hope will rescue and restore you from any scope.” Sure, the plot and message are as cheesy as they come, but you can’t help but feel warm inside all the same.
Razia’s Shadow was released under the moniker of Forgive Durden, though that isn’t wholly accurate. Every member of the band has left except for the singer, Thomas Dutton, due to personality conflicts. Some of the tension has allegedly come from Dutton wanting to create a musical, but whether or not that’s true has yet to be confirmed.
The biggest ordeal of this release, and the element that has contributed most to the hype, is the sundry cameos of Dutton’s fellow artists. The musical features the talents of Greta Salpeter of The Hush Sound, Brendon Urie of Panic at the Disco, Shawn Harris of The Matches, Chris Conley of Saves the Day, and several others.
The sundry cameos of Dutton’s fellow artists add a strong level of intrigue and hype to the project. This is incredibly important considering just how under-promoted the whole album truly is. Several people who are fans of quite a few of the contributors to this album aren’t even aware that it exists. Promotion of any nature seems to have been done through some bands’ Myspaces and a very small run of ads in magazines.
While some of the cameos work, others do not. The best example of one that works is Shawn Harris’ contribution as the mad doctor. Not only is he clearly having fun with his part, he’s doing his best to act the part as opposed to just singing with his regular voice. Truthfully the story probably would have been more engrossing if the other contributors would have chosen to do the same. The listener may find it a bit difficult to imagine Chris Conley of Saves the Day as Toba the Tura, a being sent to punish the main character.
The story is acted out through the music and then progressed by the spoken word of Aaron Weiss from MeWithoutYou. Fans of MWY already know Weiss’s ability to convey emotion powerfully with his vocals, so they may feel he’s under-utilized as being only the narrator. Regardless, Weiss does an exceptional job of furthering the story in a clear way. If it wasn’t for his contribution, the story would have been incredibly difficult to understand and follow.
Thomas’ brother Paul, a composition major, played a major part in the project. The brothers would work together during the weekends, and Thomas would demo their ideas on the weekdays. Rudy Gajadar, the drummer of Gatsby’s American Dream, was the other permanent member of the project.
A musical can have a beautiful story, but if the music falls flat then there’s no saving it. Fortunately, each song on Razia’s Shadow fulfills its purpose and does so in a harmonious way. The goal of “epic” is well-achieved, and there’s no lack of talent here. Dutton, though new to the scene, has proved himself to be a natural at composing catchy music with integrity.
Lush orchestration is often a big part of high-caliber musicals that can afford such a thing, but Dutton lacked the funds to accomplish this and had to rely on programs like Garageband to get the needed effects. This didn’t seem to place any hindrance on his goal, thankfully. In fact, it would be difficult to tell the orchestrated sections were born from music software unless you were previously informed.
Thomas Dutton had a very big vision and goal in mind when he chose to attempt a musical. While many musicians dream of conceiving something so tremendous, few actually give it their all and pursue it. Regardless of what the outcome would have been, Dutton deserves praise for trying his best. Fortunately for him, he pulled it off with few errors and setbacks. He utilized a majority of the cameos well and let the contributors shine their brightest. Hopefully this release opens a door for other artists to push themselves further; whether it be with a musical or simply a regular album.
--Dant Rambo
Comments
Fishers, Indiana
I had no idea.
This review is motherfucking spot on. I've actually probably said this:
"While some of the cameos work, others do not. The best example of one that works is Shawn Harris’ contribution as the mad doctor. Not only is he clearly having fun with his part, he’s doing his best to act the part as opposed to just singing with his regular voice. Truthfully the story probably would have been more engrossing if the other contributors would have chosen to do the same. The listener may find it a bit difficult to imagine Chris Conley of Saves the Day as Toba the Tura, a being sent to punish the main character."
...out loud to people several times. I think the other biggest offender is John Gourley. He sounds totally out of place and nothing like his supposed "brother" character. Like even though they spend all of their time together ferrying people on a boat, Gourley's character is magically really southern and bluesy.
The biggest issue I have are the little plot holes here and there... characters singing when they shouldn't be around, or people just magically disappearing, or even some lacking character motivation for a lot of events.
But that's all nitpicky. Solid album. Very unqiue, very ambitious, and I hope it does inspire other artists to step their shit up too.
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Fort Bragg, CA
"Due to budget limitations, Thomas elected to primarily use software for the orchestral parts rather than hiring musicians. "
Isn't that nuts? I'm not sure if it was Garageband specifically (though a few sources said it was), but I was trying to say that he used programs similar to it. Hopefully that didn't cause any confusion with anyone.
I really hope this album sells more.
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Fort Bragg, CA
Fishers, Indiana
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San Diego, CA
im with you on this one. it's ambitious, but for some reason, can't listen to it much.
i highly doubt any garageband was used in this. probably used a program along the lines of Ableton software stuff (http://www.ableton.com/oic). you should really watch the demo video of this program - it's amazing what it can do.
Fort Bragg, CA
Baltimore, MD
However, out of curiosity, I may check out the forgive durden show when it comes through Baltimore.
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Baltimore, MD
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San Jose, CA
I think the correct term for it would be "pretentious" instead of "ambitious" haha. seems like a "flavor of the week" album to me. it follows a generic pop/rock formula, adds fake strings in the background and calls it a "musical." it's a joke
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