Michael Oakley - Prologue

Review by Karl Magi

Overall Album Impressions

Michael Oakley’s “Prologue” explores the human experience as moments of brooding darkness contrast with romantic light and the complexity of human relationships unfolds through an exciting mixture of synth sounds, guitars and excellent vocal performances. The artist lets his vocal abilities loose to full effect, capturing the diverse songwriting and incorporating a plethora of the best artists in the synthwave scene. As a result, this is a living album that breathes with human creativity and real heart.

Anchoring everything, of course, is Michael Oakley’s utterly irresistible voice. Clear, rich and expressive, he fills the entire musical space with his performances. Traveling through passion, pain and shadow, he never loses his emotional centre. I find myself compelled by the way he translates lyrics into feeling with an immediacy that grabs hold of my ears. When he combines his voice with others, harmony and balance allow each performance to merge their collective sound into a luscious whole.

The song on “Prologue” showcases Michael Oakley and his collaborator Ollie Wride’s formidable songwriting abilities. A whole galaxy of moods and imagery is deployed to make each song rich and intensely enjoyable. Everything from threatening shadow to pure joy is captured in words that cut to the heart. In an era in which artificiality is too often present, these songs are totally real and alive. The clear intent and expression within the writing make each piece a small universe of feeling, transforming the entire album into a voyage through life.

A thrilling fusion of melody and musicality permeates “Prologue.”. Each melody is well thought out and evokes feelings with strength and musical images that become vivid in the imagination. Painting these musical pictures with a bounty of synth sounds and instruments, the production feels effortless and creates a cinematic sweep as the album unfolds. All of the involved musicians give more depth and strength to the entire project, bringing their own high level of talent to bear.

I would also like to mention all of the guest singers who gave their voices to the album. Each of them brought their own sound and feeling to the music, adding nuance and variety to the vocals. The way in which they brought their unique sounds together with Michael Oakley's voice results in music which gets more engaging with every listen.

My Favourite Songs Analyzed

“Prologue” opens with a door creaking on its hinges and the sounds of a crowd before a warming orchestral tuning sensation shifts and a pulse slowly beats to create atmosphere as wind sweeps across a vast field and a breath is taken.

As translucent tones weave cobweb patterns, a voiceover with gruff aggression welcomes us to the Thunderdome and brings “Warriors of the Wasteland” into dramatic life. Astral arpeggios flicker before the vocals deliver a message of defiant power, precise and clean, as the thunderous rhythm generates accelerative speed. A melody full of mystery, noble sensations and adventure is transmitted by Michael Oakley’s fresh, emotive vocals.

Hammering percussive lines move while the chorus erupts, full of new energy and a feeling of honorable combat. Charging guitar drives home feelings of comeback and resistance, the unwillingness to quit in the face of danger. Seizing me with thrilling optimism, Michael Oakley paints an image of an indomitable fighter, heroically struggling to defeat the opposing forces.

Falling through space with breathtaking wildness, a guitar cries in pure rebellion and madness, while the repeated chorus chants and drum beats tap unevenly to create a sense of being off-balance. Snare drums shatter and the lead singer delivers the victorious melody with a noble flourish before closing on flying guitar.

There's a "showdown breaking tonight, a shootout at county lines” as outlaws seize the throne, pounding their chests to show their aggression. “The lost years and taller lies, the ghost town left behind,” while the populace fights over water, the rulers take their fill.

“I was told to pay no mind to causes beyond control,” but he can't keep ignoring what's going on. He asks, “Whatever happened to the heroes?” adding that they have to make it out tonight and wondering who will be “the last one out alive.” The “Warriors of the Wasteland” are taking their final stand and the winners will decide how things end.

“One chance to right the hell, it's every man for himself,” where one can either stand or fall “inside the Thunderdome.” The crowd is raucous with “a soundtrack electrified,” and the storyteller reminds us not to pull any punches “if we're gonna last the fight.”

“I can start to see the light with every swing and takedown,” and he knows that their lines can be broken because “all of us are heroes.”

“Memory of You” flies in on an unevenly reverberant rhythmic line as drums and bass stagger their pulses to propel notes that gleam with tender luminescence and reflect hurting memory. Vocals echo with painful remembrance and the ghost of passion gone by, Michael Oakley reaching inside himself to express all of the hurt and loss inherent in the lyrics.

Clapping percussion breaks below spinning tones that exude a prismatic sheen and the vocals cry with deep feeling, galvanizing my heart. Missing Words’ production adds vibrance and hope fill the pouring synth as the chorus rises, both singers infusing their voices with fierce longing and loss.

Glassy tones reflect sunlight before Michael Oakley presses the melody home with blazing affection and need, touched by cascading tones that glisten like diffuse warmth across the skin. The chorus climbs to heights of feeling, dancing above the gutsy vocal delivery.

A guitar melody encapsulates all of the intensity and ache within the words, driven with rhythmic soul, before the vocalists create sensations of moving forward and trying to start again. Strumming notes carry the song to a close.

As the narrator sits at the bar by himself, with his glass in hand and the night growing cold, the jukebox plays “In Your Eyes.” He feels his heartbeat pounding “as shadows moving from the past surround me like creatures of the night.” Since the song's subject walked away, “I'm holding on to a memory of you.”

Our storyteller's memory of the song's subject “kicks into motion the spark I've been trying to light the heart” as he chases the illusion “of you and I, another chance to start.” He finds himself “trapped behind a thousand lies” but still able to see through “your sweet disguise.”

“It's over, no room for second chances,” as he isn't anyone's fool. He pleads, “Send a love that won't be cruel to this heart of mine.” He concludes by saying, “I'm breaking these chains, I'm not caught in the headlights.”

Notes like shattered glass tremble while sirens cry into the night to give “Falling Skyward” life before vocals with a moving quality ring out with a melody that hopes for better times while carrying a message about a world riven by loneliness and disconnection. Tonally rich and deep, as optimism still holds out against cynicism, Michael Oakley's performance touches me and its immediacy pulls at my heartstrings.

Rising with starlight and warmth, the melody leaps above the rhythmic underpinnings as they give form to the music around them. Exuberant and energetic, the chorus bursts forth before shadows are evoked by stream-like tones that sweep briefly while the honeyed vocals capture aspiration in the face of a shattered world.

A quickly surging synth paints images of seething threat while a defiance in the face of emptiness suffuses the vocals. The backing vocalist lends a breath-warmed intensity before robotic vocals emphasize the digital danger we face and the chorus calls out once more. Harmony flows, contrasting the resistance in the words while crystalline notes deliver a touching melody before the song closes.

It's 1:00 a.m. in Brooklyn and our storyteller is “wide awake, sinking somewhere between a hope and regret” as he scrolls through faces of strangers and locations he hasn't yet visited. He asks, “Was it a mutual interest? A design to affect how we live from one day to the next?” and wonders if it's all a diversion from making connections and “selling out the heart for a flex.”

Wondering if the day has come and the race has been won “to falling skyward,” he adds that things that were once imaginary are now plain to see. “It's up for the taking, a digital calling,” which the narrator says we've got to jump on or lose to everyone else. Night after night, he repeats the same thought process, which “feels like a weight pressing down on my chest.”

“I can't be the only one out here hoping that we will wake up and find it was a test,” just a series of empty numbers and data. He adds that he's “trying to reconfigure how I live my life one day to the next.”

As the mask begins to crumble, our storyteller asks us to “count the cost of how much it gives and takes.” As he speaks of tumbling down, he asks if the day is almost done and concludes, “Change your heart, we are one.”

“School” takes us back with a laser-like flash into the past as vocals hover like disconnected dreams, pulling us back to days gone by while tapping percussion accelerates into an undulating beat. The lead singer captures dreams and memories with his resonant, evocative performance in a melody that encapsulates thoughtful recollection as it drifts by slowly.

In a steadily throbbing pulse, underpinning tones are touched with brilliance from chimes that ring down the corridors of remembrance and the vocals sit somewhere between affection and loss. A contrast between soft caressing and darkness seizes me as the vocals capture aching hope.

Hope and anticipation fly from the pumping beat and notes that shine like sunlight breaking through cloud, Michael Oakley's voice creating uplifting emotion. A hint of spiritual connection moves from the vocals in the background while the lead singer tinges his voice with New Wave expression, a tribute to his musical influences.

Climbing again like a bird soaring, the chorus cuts free and leaps across the sky, vocals full of life. Tiny tones like a xylophone ring before a technological-sounding synth pulses in a driving pattern, capturing the New Wave vibes once again. Full of warm sensations, the main melody captures the undeniable expectation of better times ahead while the lead singer extends a hand toward the sky as notes gleam like dust particles in the sun before silence falls.

Although the days flashed by, they “felt like forever, sign of the times,” as the narrator looked over the pages and “beyond the graphs.” He was in search of “something more than a kid's supposed to ask.” He dressed like his idols and walked to class listening to Bryan Ferry’s “Don’t Stop the Dance.” His presence was met with silence and he was treated like a fool, “but the teacher’s just a junkie and the playground is so cruel.”

Telling himself that it wouldn't be long until it was over, our storyteller reassured himself that he'd be older soon enough and “now time will change 'cause nothing stays the same, so I wait until it's over.” He was full of hope that “the future plays out as asked,” and he made it through the “crash course” that took him to task.

To conclude, he says, “The passion within me brought me so far and all the pitfalls of our youth, they say, will make us who we are.”

Contemplative weight moves above seething darkness overflowing as “The Glory Years” comes into existence with Michael Oakley’s clear, slightly cold voice, driven by the foundational pulse. A spectral drift fills the vocals, capturing emptiness, before earnest emotion moves into the words as sonic gems glint, tumbling down above strong low-end propulsion.

Exhilarating energy mingles with the compelling expressions of aspiration in Michael Oakley's performance. Encouragement in the face of challenge suffuses Michael Oakley’s voice and takes hold of my soul. After the retro drums bounce off the supporting bass pool, tiny fireflies dance while a sense of adventure and possibility limns all of the notes that glide as the percussion drops away, like tiny diamonds falling from the sky.

As Michael Oakley immerses himself in the words, a guitar calls out briefly before the song bends to an end.

“Eyes in front of you, two steps ahead, seasons passing through,” as our storyteller points out that life’s a test. Adding, “I know it takes a little emotion, I know it takes a harder soul,” because just when things move forward, “it puts your ass back on the floor.”

Saying that he doesn't need a reason to forget, the narrator says, “Tomorrow’s horizon won't be back, all that is unknown becomes clear,” as it is the glory years. “Can't rewind the clocks to before the alarm,” as we become aware that our younger days aren't “all glamour and charm.”

Friction will always exist and “there will always be a race to run,” but the great thing about “clocking up the miles now” is all the memories yet to come. As the tale accelerates toward the end, “in the glory years,” our storyteller urges us to take everything in as the world turns.

To conclude, the narrator says, “What is meant to be had, it will return, so keep your eyes open, have no fear, it's the glory years.”

“Shot to the Heart” echoes with a shot across windswept desolation before rough edges revolve in an overturning pulsation as percussion launches into a galloping beat. A melodic line creates ghostly impressions as Michael Oakley’s vocals offer mixed resistance and drama.

Blinding flashes leap like lightning above the notes that fall like rain around Michael Oakley's voice, carrying desire, loss and resignation. Vaulting upward above the undulating underlayer, open-sounding notes bubble in combination with the vocals that call to me, imparting all of their depth with conviction.

Passion infuses Michael Oakley’s voice, his distinctive delivery full of change and broken hope. Warmth and pain are simultaneous in the melody, solar flares leaping free as the thrilling ardor of the words is joined by a guitar that cries out as the song closes.

"Strike out another new name," since the narrator has heard it all and "you don't change how you love." He points out that it isn't enough and there's "an exposé, fast money," adding that life comes easily for the song's subject. However, he can't "stay going around inside this hell this way," and he knows that he's got to "let go of this unrequited hold before love shakes me down and tears me to the bone."

A shot to the heart rings out and our storyteller has "found the root of distraction to the fountains of hurt." All of the signs are hidden in order to "max their return on a wide-eyed dreamer clinging to love." He asks if the laws of attraction mean anything other than "a spark of fixation to siphon the core of a devout believer, true to their word." He goes on to inquire why the other person tries to pretend because "I've seen how this all ends in a blaze of fire, fueled by blind desire."

"I showed you my devotion," as the narrator has given "every ounce of emotion a man could give for a cause, to his love, from the heart." As the song subject's makeup flakes away, it reveals all of the narrator's errors. He adds, "You said you'd love me, girl, but it seems that you don't care."

Our storyteller’s trying to escape "the clutches of obsession" and the powerful attraction he feels. From far away, he hears "the faint sound of reason," realizing that "I've got to let go of this unrequited hold, before love shakes me down and tears me to the bone."

Luminescent notes add a feeling of wonderment to wordless vocals that move with cascading sunlight as “Hurts Like Heaven” grows into being with thrilling feelings pouring out. Rising tones like champagne bubbles sparkle before devotion and undying fervency flow from Michael Oakley’'s vocals, reaching for the sky with melodic joy before Holly Dodson mixes her resonant performance with his, exuding piercing feeling.

Brilliant fire licks from the synth, kindling the dancing notes as the harmonizing singers lend grabbing emotion to the proceedings. Adding a contrast to the complexity within the words, affection leaps from the synthesized embers and the sincere desire trembling within the vocals before a drum break rocks it through and the foundations push forward.

The feeling of patient readiness fills me, conveyed by Michael Oakley's performance and given additional dynamism from Holly Dodson's intensely felt vocals. A heart-lifting feeling rises from a melodic pattern full of freedom, flying like cosmic rays through the universe. Optimism leaps from the singers' voices, crying out to deliver every ounce of commitment, the low end bursting while unadulterated caring mixes with the lyrical beauty before drawing to a close.

Asking if the song's subject knows all that he wants to say to make things better, he adds, "I will go beyond anyone, all the miles, counting time," before asking if it has helped the healing and if it feels better. He adds, "Let's get a hold, gain control, find the solution." The other person doesn't make it easy, tearing out the heart, wanting him to run and he doesn't understand, so he asks if they can hear him.

"Try and play your part, I've played out all my cards, this is your last chance," is what the narrator warns the song's subject. "It hurts like heaven when you're treating me like hell, I can't get enough of your punch-drunk love," which keeps him enchanted. He adds, "If it hurts like heaven then I don't want nobody else," because with the other person's "stone cold eyes, the heart can't lie." He goes on to say that he knows the other person better than himself.

Urging the song subject to let go of their preconceptions and see things more clearly, the narrator says, "Take it slow if that's what you want." He points out that they should clean the slate because, despite the struggle, he still believes in their relationship growing closer. He continues, "You and I, fire sign in a lonely world." Tears that have "formed in fire fuel the hope that there's still a chance," and although the other person is online, his "desire's overruled by your silence." He asks how you can know if you don't try.

To conclude, our storyteller says, "Open your eyes back up to us, it's a firm and blind belief I have, I don't want to shake off."

“Use Your Illusion” sways with tender motion, pulsing weight guiding free-flowing tones which capture yearning, tentative hope and pleading emotion as a guitar strums with organic sensation. All of the sounds glide into a broad field supporting Michael Oakley's voice as he digs deep to extract a lyrical beauty tinged with all of the wanting and worry within the words.

Percussion allows the lulling rhythm to move with soft love, the lead singer spilling out pure honesty and raw commitment and galvanizing me with each note. As the chorus moves with a feeling of honey sweetness and loss, it expands widely before dropping into a hushed gentleness, guitar strings tangling with folksy jangling, reflecting honesty in the words that's not embellished or exaggerated.

Climbing like birds into the sunset, the notes fully extend to lift the already soaring vocals up higher. Layer upon layer of sound washes together in coruscating brilliance while the melodic line is a reflection of gut-punching emotion that slips to an end.

"I want to alight the fires within, trying to rewrite the script that we're in," as the narrator points out that they're taking for granted the sunrises and sunsets instead of simply counting "how many moons were full." He adds, "So let's just be honest for once in our lives, our world would be standing if we read the signs," and the distance between them helped him understand that "we could turn time back just for tonight."

Asking the song subject to stay just a little longer, he's reluctant to say goodbye, continuing, "It's never too late to start over, let's cut this confusion, just use your illusion." As their hearts are spinning, stereotypes cause them to "convince ourselves blind into the life we are now in," and our storyteller questions how much time they both have to lose. As they tiptoe around the edges, he says, "I know we can get through if we put us to the test."

As the song ends, the narrator points out that they should be honest that they both served their time, "entangled by conscious pretending we're fine," as the reasons they're breaking up "just don't fit the crime of throwing us away because of our pride."

Conclusion

“Prologue” is one of those albums that goes beyond simple music to a place of emotion, expression and passion. It brings together the undeniable talent of Michael Oakley with a galaxy of tremendous artists from the synthwave scene to create an album that is full of dynamic energy and the broad range of human experience. I have to say that this music has me ready for multiple re-listenings!