Great Expectations
GREAT EXPECTATIONS was a five-year journey from conception to release.
Featuring some of the most talented musicians in Toronto, including Noah Zacharin, Mark Zubek, Ben Miller and Kirsten Rea (just to name a few), it features a collection of six songs (five originals and a cover of the Crowded House song "Don't Dream It's Over") which are loosely related lyrically to the the famous book of the same name by Charles Dickens.
Songs range from the mellow and introspective "Department Store Girl" to the energetic title track "Great Expectations" (which showcases some impressive musicianship from the backing group of Aaron Spink, Alex St. Kitts and Mark Zubek, as well as j.a.g. echoing Supertramp on acoustic and Rhodes piano). While lyrically speaking of a disconnect in a fractured relationship, it also has an upbeat energy that springs from the chorus of "No, I won't be a party to this crime, I've done my time".
The ballads "Cavalry" and "No More Hellos" show an emotional side, with a yearning for freedom ("Let it free, let it fly, let these arms open wide") from a relationship that is long past the point of no return, and a hard decision to end a tumultuous, addictive affair with "No more goodbyes, no more hellos . . . hello, hello?"
A modern, almost classical re-working of the well-known Neil Finn song "Don't Dream It's Over" adds expressive cello and violin from Soohyun Nam and Roslyn Green, and gives the song a more reflective, melancholy feel in the verses, countered by an upbeat, almost symphonic chorus and ending.
The rollicking "Eye For An Eye" and the introspective "Department Store Girl" complete the album, providing nice bookends with the former planting a tree of friendship that begins to sour ("Follow me to the tree that we planted so young, so young") and ending with a promise of "I know that I'll see you again" made to a former lover who has begun a new life elsewhere.