Way Through

Joseph Shabason、Chris Cummings、Thom Gillによる豪華プロジェクトCici Arthur。プロデューサー兼インストゥルメンタリストのShabasoとGillがCummingsのヴォーカルと作曲を披露するための大規模なセットを作るために始めたグループで、アントニオ・カルロス・ジョビンのミッドセンチュリー・スリンクやフランク・シナトラのロマンティックさを取り入れたサウンドを追求。ドラムにPhil Melanson (Sam Gendel, Sam Amidon, Andy Shauff)や盟友Nicholas Krgovich、そしてヴァイオリンにはOwen Palletなど30人編成のオーケストラが参加。

By the time the COVID-19 pandemic officially went global in 2020, Chris A. Cummings had something like a dozen albums and EPs under his belt between his projects Mantler and Marker Starling. As part of the pandemics fallout, Cummings lost his day job of some 20 years and, now in his fifties, was left floundering without a backup plan. For the first time, he turned to music full-time, and founded Cici Arthur with two other regulars on the Toronto music scene, singer/songwriter/producer Joseph Shabason (DIANA, Destroyer) and indie/jazz musician Thom Gill, both prior collaborators. Together, they looked to the lush, romantic sound of mid-century artists like of Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim for Cici Arthurs notably melancholy debut album, Way Through. Recording sessions in November 2023 not only included a 30-piece orchestra helmed by none other than Owen Pallett but contributions from drummer Phil Melanson (Sam Gendel, Andy Shauf) and vocalists Nicholas Krgovich and Dorothea Paas, among others. Sounding something like the offspring of "Moon River" and "The Windmills of Your Mind," Way Through offers eight wistful and disappointed songs, beginning with a title track that repeatedly asks, "What good are dead ends when Im looking for a way through?" These lyrics are framed over gentle piano, mallet percussion, cross-sticked snare, and eventual elegant horns and backing vocals. A big key modulation two-thirds of the way through lands on the lines "When the miracle youd hope for never comes, its hard to take/And the miracle that comes is not the one for which your heart was breaking." The rest of Way Through mostly continues in kind, with lovely, dramatic arrangements, poignant lyrics, and a sorrow that only lifts for moments of hope more than actual satisfaction ("All So Incredible," "Stolen Joy"), or for adjusted expectations ("Cartwheels for Coins"). One possible exception is the relatively uplifting "Damaged Goods," whose filmic lyrics encourage holding out for "the part that you want to play" ("Strike out for the song that you want to sing"). While taken together, the material might have played a bit too maudlin in less proficient hands, the accompaniment is superb, and Cummings has just the right voice for the part: rich, warm, and fragile, with doe eyes implied. ~ Marcy Donelson