If the subtitle ‘A Musical’ doesn’t pique your interest, perhaps the guest stars will – Forgive Durden’s Thomas Dutton has assembled a veritable who’s who of the contemporary emo/punk scene to flesh out the cast of his ambitious musical. Although the line-up is weighed down by scene-famous names like Max Bemis (Say Anything), Chris Conley (Saves the Day), Brendon Urie (Panic at the Disco) and Shawn Harris (The Matches) amongst others, they all complement rather than overwhelm Dutton’s fairytale vision of a struggle between light and darkness.
This is not your conventional album: as much as he can within the restraints of the album format, Dutton’s created a virtual soundtrack to a musical that never was. Dutton naturally plays the lead roles, first as the fallen angel Ahrima whose ambition nearly causes the destruction of the world he helped create; and then as Adakias, the young prince who falls in Romeo-and-Juliet-esque love for the princess Anhura (The Hush Sound’s Greta Salpeter, in beautiful form).
Aided by producer Casey Bates and brother Paul Dutton, Dutton’s created the real sound of a stage musical complete with lush strings and orchestration, underscored by Rudy Gajadhar’s (Gatsby’s American Dream) drums.
Stand-out tracks include the urgent, uptempo ‘Life is Looking Up’; the slow build of ‘Toba the Tura’ (ft. Chris Conley); and ‘The Exit’ (ft. Brendon Urie and This Providence’s Dan Young) which succeeds wonderfully in creating a sense of character interaction and storyline. Special mention must also go out to Max Bemis as the Spider on ‘The Spider and the Lamps’ and Shawn Harris on ‘Doctor, Doctor’ for throwing themselves so whole-heartedly into creating such distinctive, sinister and memorable characters.
There are moments when the narrative falters – especially towards the somewhat rushed climax – and on first listen the unabashed theatricality (or cheesiness, depending on your stance on musicals) of tracks like ‘Doctor, Doctor’ or ‘Meet the King’ may take you aback. As a general criticism, I also really wish there had been more for the two female characters (Lizzie Huffman and Salpeter) to do apart from act as foils to Dutton’s leads.
Overall, however, it’s an album and a story that stands up to repeat listens. It’s the strength of Dutton’s melodies and lyrics that make this album as good as it is, and strong enough to persuade me overlook any minor shortfalls between ambition and achievement. This probably isn’t the album anyone was expecting – an emo fantasy musical? come on! – but in many ways it seems like the an appropriate culmination of the literary ambitions always displayed in Forgive Durden’s earlier and more easily categorised (though no less interesting and challenging) work. Highly recommended.
AL: 9/10
Forgive Durden: Razia’s Shadow
