Album Review: Act Two by Collabro

As I sit with my laptop sat securely in my lap and a warm tea waiting for me, I can't help but notice the soft serenity basking the theatre show being broadcasted on my TV. Katherine Jenkins, a widely recognised musician in the classical world, renowned for her dulcet tone of voice and unique breadth of pitch, leaves the stage to introduce forward male-band, Collabro. The name rings a bell but as each young man stands before the audience, no measure of familiarity registers in my mind. It isn't until I'm later told by my father that this is Collabro, the winning act of Britain's Got Talent 2014.

Their performance was effortlessly executed, with a perfectly cathartic shrill, something which is reflected in their second and most recent album, Act Two, where we find that Collabro have made a graceful leap into a profound territory as an increasingly established band, surpassing the success of their debut album, Stars. I was obviously compelled to have a listen, but rather than finding a conflict of invariably good and yet bad songs, as I've come to expect from most albums (since after all, music is regrettably subjective and not every song is sure to fit your taste), I was proudly surprised to find that each and every song had a character that could not in any way be passed off with the labels, boring or unpleasant. Operatic music has never been more revolutionised and relevant to our culture since the introduction of artists such as Collabro.

Stars was an album punctuated with mainstream songs, sung in a quirky and especial way, distinctive of this classical act. But what's made the second album more effective is that they've come together to yet again, transform these powerful ballads such as 'All Of Me' and 'I Won't Give Up', but then paired these with some of the most dramatic theatrical and film score music out there, in order to reach out to both a contemporary and older audience at the same time. They delivered the talent needed to spike the interest of the younger generation with Stars but here, they pull at our poignant memories with the languid and striking music which, at least for me, is significant in how the songs fundamentally marked my childhood. 'Memories' and 'Music Of The Night' are both performed with the care I expect they ought to be given. The harmonies are enrapturing too, drifting in the air like the soft caress of an ocean breeze. With each minute that goes by, it feels as if you're pulling at silk, which is slowly slipping from your hands as you endeavour to savour the songs, luxuriating in the vocals and string quartet which when combined, develops pathos, yearning and an immense sensation of great loss but triumph and comfort.

'I Dreamed A Dream' is one of the most iconic songs to brace the album which although an over-exposed track, is timeless and well-performed by the band who clearly sing with appropriated use of tone. However, if any song could be criticised, then at least in my opinion, it would have to be Collabro's cover of 'Circle of Life'. This is a song that requires high zest and enthusiasm to accomplish well in performance. Collabro are mightily talented at singing with ardour in their spirits but I felt the song fell short of my expectations for a track which is famous for how it sanctifies the bounty of life and life's accomplishments. The opening was powerful but I found myself willing the music to reach a climax which never came. In rock songs this is created through the guitar riffs or the eccentric cry of emotion, whereas this may be marked in other classical songs with the rise in pitch and stretching of a note that leave the artist/s sounding utterly overwrought with emotion. That's exactly what I was looking to pin-point but sadly this wasn't something I found (at least in a striking way).

All in all, Collabro are a skilful act that have shown classical music can still have significance in this ever-changing music industry, driven by a pop-mad audience. They also retain a beautiful sense of power and strength through the masculine tone of voice which is a rarity among music today. Not to say that other male singers sound weak or effeminate but that just as you find in literature, where gentlemen would have conformed to the stereotypical masculine archetype, Collabro epitomise classical music and the stereotypical masculine 'voice'.* As said, not every song on the album will satisfy your tastes but with only one song as a slight concern for me, I have no doubt that as the band develops, they'll only get better and progress so much so that soon, it'll be hard to lay out any further improvements.

Act Two is out now and can be bought from iTunes, or at your local music store.

*That probably sounds entirely incomprehensible. Don't worry, I'm not aiming to be sexist by saying a man should act or sound according to their archetypal stereotype but simply that it is common within the classical genre, which is seen by some people as 'outdated' or 'old-fashioned', to find the man sounding powerful with a deep tonal range, whilst a woman sounds sweet and yet astonishingly powerful, with a high tonal range.

Book Review: My Secret Rockstar Boyfriend by Eleanor Wood

This is a follow on from the previous video, hence the reason why it sounds as if I'm moving onto a different topic...

* I'm no whizz at vlogging- I'm pretty new to this-so yes, I make a few errors in what I say, but please excuse my illiterate mistakes and I hope you enjoy the somewhat complex review!

A Daily Occurrence

Feels, emotions, life...basically.

Book Review: The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten

A few months back I was blessed with a collection of 3 books after having won a competition with Movellas . Each book shares a young adult/ teen target audience, dealing with specific themes that strictly face reality rather than drawing an affront to it. They also seemed to commonly paint each lead protagonists' persona as being affirmative yet somewhat despondent in how they think and interact with other characters.

The focus of this review is the second book I came upon, The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten. Here, we find Toten create a whimsical tale about a boy named Adam, incensed by a string of problems but benevolent in his attention to others and noble attitude towards vanquishing the evil possessing his one love, Robyn. Adam's view of the world is very much black and white, which is fundamentally characteristic of who he is, making the story effectively more intriguing; it provides the novel with something that makes us want to sympathise with Adam when he comes into trouble with his OCD on a number of occasions.

I found Toten's ability to develop characters through the omniscient voice much more effective than I'd hoped, especially in how she used this style to create a distinctive voice for a young boy (Adam) with an abstract mind and peculiar perspective on growing up and finding his feet in this strange world of his. Many times I found my mind falling back into rhythm with the narrative voice, similarly found in 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime'. It is indeed a novel designed to uphold the verisimilitude of real issues and the nature of the human condition. The hopes thrown into the characters' elevated status' through how they select superhero identities gives them a reverential prowess that is light-hearted and truly especial.

However, the plot in general was fairly dry. In all fairness, my expectations were probably set too high, where I waited to be stunned by some alluring action sequence or fantastical event dispelling the glum reality we face in our day to day lives. But this just isn't the novel needed to bring such. In all honesty, it is a fantastically constructed novel, but one that is mightily ordinary in everything that is explored.

My verdict?

Read when: you're looking for something light to read, drawing on realism
Don't read if: you're looking for something to leave you in a fit of emotions or you're just looking for a swampingly majestic read full of magic, mystery, suspense and lots and lots of intrigue

Gig Review: 5 Seconds Of Summer (Friday 5th June, Birmingham)

It's been quite a year of music, continually shooting up with idolised bands and blatantly repetitive EDM (electronic dance music) and house tracks. But it feels as if the chart-topping successes of 2015 so far are the more widely recognised beats, dependent on technology that at the click of a button, causes an audience to bolt from their seats and rave. But where does this leave the artistry behind music? How are we to feel emotionally engaged with what we're listening to, in anger, sadness and euphoria? What about the talent of expressing emotions through instruments and voice to couple it?

A gig of voice and soul, Friday night was by far a faith-restoring experience. Support act, Hey Violet, was up first; an American pop-rock band who only recently got signed to Hi Or Hey Records. Made up of 4: Nia on drums, Rena on bass, Casey on lead guitar and Miranda who efficiently switched between guitar and keys, watching this band was evidence enough that the raw delicacy of music-making was important to them, just as it was in getting the audience to feel engaged with their music.

What's ultimately successful is their uniqueness and utter bad-ass attitude when performing: there's no holding back with this group. A personal rendition of Taylor Swifts's 'Blank Space' got the once placid and wary audience dancing at once. Although it's always sad to see an easily talented band receive little positive reception when they perform as a support act. Many of the fans to my side chose to stand still, clearly unaffected by the infectious vocals and compelling guitar riffs. But after some straight-up listening, they accepted the band's invigorating sound. Some of the clearly delicious parts of their art include the all-round catchy tunes, great guitar skills, utter crazed faces and mother-jerking zests of fervour. Half an hour later and this band had uncertain minds soon obsessing over their sound. If they're getting people talking now, there's no doubt that the future success of this band stands too tall for defeat just yet.

The day was full of waiting. At first it was the queuing for sound check, several hours later I was treated to a series of Fall Out Boy and Blink 182 tracks, no doubt a playlist made by the band. Stacey's Mum was a firm favourite play, it's such a classic, as was some top-ranking Green Day songs. After Hey Violet, the waiting resumed. The Final Countdown was the last song to be played and it was hard not to scream with elation. These guys can be real witty sometimes, and it's always just as surprising the moment they do something truly punny. The screens suddenly lit up with vibrant graphics reeling with news headlines, in some ways satirising online media, but in actual fact it was merely a testament to the band's oddity.

5 Seconds Of Summer are very obviously invested in their music, and if this be only a superficial statement then this whole review stands as a sad lie, provoking the power of music.  At the very beginning, the lights cut out and all that was left were the screams of fans and the music slowly fading in. This gave me time to focus on the music and built anticipation in a far more intense way than any other concert has done before. This continued as the beats kicked in, lights flashed and soon the whole band were on stage crying out End Up Here as if they were born to it. Throughout the concert, the strobe lighting packed power into each strum and into every beat, making the show far more dramatic than I'd ever hoped. It didn't end there. The band would run to each side of the stage, staring across the room, stricken by the crowd, epitomising the animate prowess of an established band. There were moments where I would cheer them on, screaming each lyric, where my pent-up excitement could finally be released. Then there were others, when I would be soothed by the soft vocals in songs such as Amnesia, followed by the juxtaposed frenzy of head-banging and hair-flipping tracks, Rejects and Green Day's American Idiot.

It rests that a 5SOS concert is an event undoubtedly greater than you could ever expect it to be, and their music alone stands as a marker for their inherent passion for music and their shared, diligent, dedicated ethos. They are much better live than on the album; but that just goes to show that each day, they are only getting better and better, and that their sound is getting even closer to the rock sound that inspires them to continue making music for audiences willing to listen. I would definitely recommend making a trip down to one of their concerts: it's not something I'm likely to forget.

More videos and pictures from the gig can be found on my Twitter