Zachary James - "Song of Myself"
Zachary James - Song of Myself
less like a classical song cycle and closer to a modern beatnik poetry reading.
Zachary James, renown operatic and music theatre bass, makes his compositional debut with Song of Myself. Comprising of twelve songs, Song of Myself sets sections of Walt Whitman's similarly-named poem. James presents Whitman's text without reduction or addition, with each included section of the extended poem separated into its own track. James is joined here by three performers (and an uncredited pianist): Ariel Campos on percussion, Wick Simmons on cello, and Frederick Poholek on guitar.
The album comes across as less like a classical song cycle and closer in resemblance to a modern interpretation of a beatnik poetry reading. There is no sense of melody and little sense of prosody in James' setting. Each word of the text is cleanly separated, making it easy for himself to laboriously enunciate each syllable, which is not always necessary. The slow, dirgeness to each and every track continuously drags down the spirit of the album and makes it difficult to mentally engage with the poem.
While the instrumental additions are pleasant, James never gives them any time by themselves, nor any chance for the music to settle. It is just a barrage of never-ending, plaintive text. Song of Myself sounds as though all three performers recorded random spurts of improvisation over James' vocal lines. There is no continuity nor musical support apparent amongst the players, as if they were recorded separately with shabby guidance. Being said, Campos is particularly virtuosic in his array of included instruments and techniques, with his licks being the most interesting feature of the album. Simmons' playing is also excellent in terms of what limited parts were asked. The guitar and voice have a long history of working well together, which is why it is disappointing Poholek's were both boring and unnecessary. All in all, Song of Myself is an album of interest only to listeners who already pine over James' voice.
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