Album Review

You know the feeling when you hear a song for the first time and you immediately connect with it, so you listen to it repeatedly to relive that initial feeling? Of course you do – we all do – that’s why music exists right? Well, I first discovered the Neverending White Lights’ most popular song “The Grace” a few weeks ago, and let me assure you, that was definitely one of those songs. I loved it so much that after finally parting ways with it to explore the rest of the album, I decided that, although I didn’t love the other tracks as much as, there were definitely a few close seconds.

Frontman Daniel Victor creates a set of powerful tracks that could derive emotions from places you never knew existed. He teamed up with several well-known artists for the recording, including Finger Eleven’s Scott Anderson, Raine Maida from Our Lady Peace and my personal favorite, Jimmy Gnecco from Ours. Victor plays all the instruments on the album and produced it himself as well.

Here is sneak peek at the sixteen-track album (divided into 3 acts) in case you decide you’d like to tune in to the emotional world of Daniel Victor and experience the album in its entirety.

Act I: The Hour Arrives:

1. “From What I Once Was” – An eerie first track with a dark mood and a melodic piano riff. Victor delivers his sad but beautiful lyrics that reflect the image where his moniker derived: “All my thoughts wrapped up in neverending white lights.”

2. “Angels and Saints” – This track doesn’t have a lot of musical significance, mostly just vague chords and a light percussion, but it has a certain mellow, Radiohead feel to it.

3. “Age of Consent” – This is where the album picks up into a happier mood, not too happy, but it definitely has more of an upbeat sound. It makes me think of laying back and relaxing as the sun is starting to rise.

4. “Ending Of a Story” – Another great piece that is louder than the first two tracks, but still has a sort of sadness to it. It sounds like the kind of song that would be featured in a movie as the main character is gazing out the window of a train dreaming about a long lost love.

5. “Return Of Our Lives” – This one is trippy and peculiar with lots of techno-sounds in the background. It’s like a mixture of a Nine Inch Nails beat and a Radiohead track from the “Kid A” era.

Act II: My Angel, My Queen, My Death, My Treasure:

6. “I Hope Your Heart Runs Away” – This is a rather quiet and spooky track, as the lyrics are practically whispered throughout most of the song. It also features Scott Anderson from Finger Eleven after a lengthy keyboard opening.

7. “A Little Piece” – A great song with a melancholy piano beat, great harmonized vocals and emotional lyrics about loneliness. For those of you that are affected by music, this one’s sure to move you.

8. “This Longing” – A somber, rather depressing song featuring Daniel Greaves, a Canadian rock vocalist who was formerly the lead singer of The Watchmen, one of Canada’s most successful bands of the 90’s.

9. “Of All The Things You’ve Done Wrong” – One of my favorites on the album. It has a steady tempo, a mellow keyboard beat and a slightly more bubbly, catchy sound to it. It almost sounds like an Alicia Keys inspired track.

10. “Tired of Saving Souls” – Another favorable gem featuring John Campsey on vocals. For an acoustic track, it certainly has a lot of noise in the background, but in a positive way.

11. “How Could I Survive” – The shortest song on the album that doesn’t have a lot to offer besides low, monotone grumblings and a flowing beat that reminds me of that Primitive Radio Gods song with the longest title ever “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand.”

12. “The Grace” – Here it is, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, I give you the album’s most captivating moment: THE GRACE. I could probably write an entire novel about how magnificent this song is, but I’ll try to stick to the basics. It features Alexisonfire’s Dallas Green on vocals and is quite possibly one of the most beautiful songs, not only on the album, but ever written (no exaggeration). The emotion behind the enchanting verses and powerful chorus isn’t depressing, but like all good music, it makes you feel something. It gives you chills and makes you repeat the song over and over until you wonder if that feeling will ever subside. This is the song that made me buy the album. This is the song that made me decide to explore the artist and see what else they were made of. And this is the song that concludes Act II and will leave you dying to see what Act III has to offer.

Act III: A Pale Nation Sleeps In Misery:

13. “First Days of Spring” – This track offers a soothing piano and powerful melody and features HUM’s Matt Talbot on vocals (come on, all you 90’s rock lovers remember HUM right? “She thinks she missed the train to Mars / she’s out back counting stars.”) A stylish piece of work.

14. “Liar” – Our Lady Piece’s frontman Raine Maide offers up his raspy vocals for this piece, which starts out with a quiet, creepy piano riff but then after about one minute, explodes into a theatrical masterpiece with an electric guitar wailing in the background.

15. “Life Is A Dead Scene” – Another low, mellow track, only not nearly as dark and depressing as a few others on the album. Halfway through the song, the drums kick in and bring it to life, creating a spellbinding effect for the listener.

16. “Our Final Hymn” – Anyone that knows me know this fact: I think Jimmy Gnecco is by far the best vocalist that rock music has seen in a long time. Therefore, since he provides the lead vocals on the closing track of the album, needless to say, I’m more than likely to adore it. The fact is that the song is absolutely breathtaking and magnificent, with or without Gnecco on vocals. He adds the icing on the cake. This song takes up about eight minutes and starts out slow with Gnecco singing to a quiet humming in the background, but after about two minutes, the harps kick in as the song grows louder and louder and fills the listener with anticipation. Finally, after about three and a half minutes of built-up excitement, the song comes to life with full background vocals. Then just when you think it’s going to explode even more, it quiets down once again, mimicking its introduction before coming to a soothing end. A brilliant way to end a fantastic album.

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