ReveLever - Retrospective
Review by Karl Magi
Overall Album Impressions
ReveLever’s Retrospective travels through the band’s emotionally complex, layered musical creations over four years. Randy Lever, Shannon Maree and Ferry Lever make synth-based music that has heart-tugging poignancy at its core. Interwoven sonic layers mingle with strong vocals and expressive guitar work to support the songwriting.
Retrospective does an excellent job of showcasing Randy Lever’s intriguing compositions and complex synth combinations. It also highlights Shannon Maree’s intensely powerful vocal abilities and Ferry Lever’s well-integrated and ear-catching guitar work. Taken as a whole, all of these elements form an engaging album.
I also want to mention the quality of Shannon Maree’s songwriting. She weaves deeply touching and emotive lyrics that range across topics as diverse as environmental degradation and broken relationships. Each song is well-considered and she brings her words to life with her impassioned singing.
The sonic environment on the album fills me with feeling. Randy Lever paints aching, shadowed musical imagery with his compositions and use of synth sounds. There’s a desolation in much of his work, occasionally touched by tenderness and fleeting light. I must admit to being strongly affected by his music.
My Favourite Tracks Reviewed
“Future Forward” starts as huge, gruff bass reverberates as glowing, digital-sounding synth flares as Shannon Maree’s strong, deeply expressive voice carries an uplifting melody and now the drums shape the music above bass walls.
Gleaming synth notes ring out with hopeful feeling as the positive sounding main melody is carried by Shannon Maree’s expression-filled voice, the chorus soaring out with encouragement as the drumbeat rebounds as shimmering chimes flicker and again the bass bounces as the drums hit hard.
Shannon Maree’s voice has strength and warmth to it as the glistening chimes dance out. Again the chorus climbs upwards, full of a sense of progress and underneath it all the drumbeat and bass shape the music
Our robotic narrator speaks of how humans are starting to remake their lives. The narrator asks, “Do you remember everything they’ve ever said?” She goes on to say that the robots won’t get “sublime with our doubts of mind.” Once the humans fought with the robots but “those times are now long dead” because with some technological help, they made peace instead. I find a sinister subtext in those words.
Now the human viewpoint comes in. The humans have had to sacrifice our nature and “put down our arms” to stand tall. We have overcome all our challenges and humanity’s ascendant for everyone. It “turns out it didn’t take so much at all.” Both the humans are robots are now in it together and we will “direct our future forward.” Each group concludes that “it turns out we weren’t so bad after all.”
Flaring synth bounces out in bright notes that pulsate and intertwine as hard-hitting retro drums drive to kick off “Take Me.” Shannon Maree’s richly resonant voice carries an energetic melody as quickly flaring synth effectively contrasts with the main vocal melody’s minor key shadow.
Wavering, chanting voices move above dense, medium-low synth before glittering synth flickers and adds bright accents. Heavy drums keep pulsating and darkness swirls around the chorus, Shannon Maree’s voice mysterious and enfolding.
Shimmering chimes descend in ringing motion and quick bursts of shining synth add extra light. The undulating, minor key chorus adds an interesting, devious element as drums and bass pulsate onward. The track ends on quickly pulsing, tight synth and the lead synth’s’ elevated glow.
The song begins as our storyteller wonders if it's strange that “I would never wait for nothing.” The song’s subject would tell her to leave it behind her as they wove “your tale for every mile that we were walking.” She says that the other person opened a door for her and showed her what she’d been missing.
Now our narrator tells the other person that they can “have it all here, whatever you want dear” and adds that she will give the other person anything she can because “you have my all here.” The narrator creates an image of being tied to the other person’s waist with golden strings. She is “lost inside the pathway to my unknown fears.”
The storyteller says that she’s touched deeply and will keep the other person’s secrets forever. She adds that the “darkened walls heighten every sense and every pleasure.” In the end, she knows that “I will be here with your forever, we can be anything we wish to be."
"So Wrong” opens as towering bass throbs from and strong, dominant drums pound. Oscillating synth undulates and chimes ring out to accent to Shannon Maree’s cold voice. Her vocals create a sense of desolation that I find compelling.
Wide-sounding, digital chimes ring out above the bleak vocals that that the capture the lyrics and their warning. Hollow, echoing drums pulsate and the chimes’ subdued glow creates a sense of danger. Shannon Maree’s ice-rimed voice moves above ominous drums and bass.
The vocals waver and haunt, carrying a writhing melody. A sense of doom radiates as glistening chimes mingle with bleak vocals. Chimes wriggle as the main vocal melody reaches out twisting tendrils, a feeling of darkness permeates the music before it closes out.
As the world burns, we stand in the fire according to the narrator. She points out that we are blinded by our fear of change, even though “our planets on a course, temperature higher” so we keep tossing everything away.
In the chorus, she repeats the fact that “it can’t be done” and that “you’ve got it wrong.” The storyteller reminds the other person that can’t keep happening and adds that “you are so wrong.”
Emissions keep rising and there’s “pollution littering our biosphere.” Water is becoming more and more scarce and every living thing can feel the consequences of global warming. The narrator asks what humanity is doing and wonders why “do we keep claiming there’s nothing to fear?” She asks what we’re waiting for, adding “enough of fighting each war.”
Earth is dying and the "sickness manifests from our minds” as the people at the top keep fighting. Ultimately the storyteller says that “it’s time we step them down from their throne.”
Razor sharp, medium-high synth wanders in angular lines as open-sounding percussion ticks and gruff bass rises to start “Lost It All.” Shannon Maree’s voice is fragile and hopeless as the ethereal chorus trembles in a tragically yearning melody.
Steady, hollow percussion keeps ticking as the deeply pounding drum and umbral bass add shadows. I am dawn to the delicate, aching vocal melody as softly touching chimes flash. Angular, slicing synth accents Shannon Maree’s bereft voice and resonant synth adds a vibrating metallic quality.
The chorus trails in a haunted, wistful line as accenting chimes flare. Underneath it all, the solid drumbeat and gruff bass shape the music and the dynamic, metallic-sounding synth adds contrast to the pained vocals.
The narrator calls out but the other person is nowhere to be seen, she says that she needs them because “I've got nowhere to hide.” She is breaking down and has “lost all my light.” Now she’s terrified and feels she is losing the fight. The other person doesn’t believe her and she feels that “you never need me at all” adding “I’ve lost it all.”
Our storyteller says she gave it everything as the other person has been “a bright, shining light” but they have left her in the darkness. She adds that she ought to have waited but that seemed wrong because “cold and naked, my loving you denied.” It is too late for her to speak and she has "forgotten why you loved me at all.”
The other person won’t give her a chance or break her fall. She has to admit that they are “done, we’ve come to a wall.” The song’s subject won’t hear her or see her any more.
“Let Me Go” begins as rough-edged, wide-sounding synth forms a steady pulse while a heavy kick drum pounds. Glistening synth climbs upward to create drama before Shannon Maree’s aching vocals echo out in a melody full of mystery and tension. The way in which her tone implies worry to match the lyrics is a nice touch.
String-like synth trembles as gigantic sonic walls slice. Smoothly shining synth rises below the sharper, more angular sound behind it. Shannon Maree’s voice is emotionally exhausted and digital-sounding synth chimes in slowly flashing notes. Ferry Lever’s gritty guitar growls while his sitar twangs and twists, creating a devious feeling.
The hard-driving drumbeat keeps moving the music. A sense of defiance fills the singer’s voice as warmth creeps into the music from a fragile, caressing melody that lingers behind it. The song ends on slashing guitar, pounding drums and gigantic sonic walls crushing down.
In a room full of low lights and company, there’s a sense of “glamorous uncertainty.” The champagne flows but our storyteller is trying to avoid the gaze of the song’s subject, feeling her stomach churning. She says that the other person thinks “you can control everything” but she won’t go. The other person can’t expect their love to stay intact, so she asks them to “let me go, forever.”
The situation grows more tense as the night unfolds as she finds her “chest heaving, silk dress so tight.” There is hollow laughter and the narrator feels “disappointment, (and a) broken stare.” Our narrator thought that the other person’s touch could replace something in her, she’d know but “if I follow you, my life I'd disgrace.” She knows that she can’t ever go with that person.
There are “stolen glances (and) broken romances” that spin out a “nightmare fantasy” as she is circled by empty faces.
Steadily throbbing bass presses forward as low, shadowed synth slowly shifts to start “All Alone.” Hollow-toned, panpipe synth carries a melody full of loss and unmoored drifting. Shannon Maree’s powerfully emotive voice carries a melody tinged with darkness while a dense bass pulse drives on.
In the chorus, the vocal melody slithers and slinks through the music in a way I find pleasing. Flaring synth motion is joined by rich sonic whorls as Shannon Maree’s pained, touching voice carries a smoothly twisted, minor key melody. Glimmering, metallic synth flickers and a panpipe’s airy voice carries gently breathy notes.
Below it all, drums keep driving along with colossal bass. The vocal melody slides and wriggles as the song presses on, shimmering metallic synth chords leaping out. The vocalist captures the feeling in the lyrics. Now richly rounded synth slowly winds out in a gliding line. The song fades as percussion and bass drop out.
Our narrator says that at the start both of her feet were on the ground but it “soon departed, it had left me all around.” As she moves there are indistinct shapes around her and as she breathes her body is “touched by the air.” She realizes that she was seeking herself, looking for a saviour who never arrived.
The party has ended and she’s left alone with an empty body and mind. The storyteller has flown over mountains, lakes and rivers as she’s bid farewell, broken hearted, to everything she’s known. She’s let go of her life as it was because she deeply needed “a sacred time alone.” The narrator realizes that she was “the cause of my fight for so long” as she was lost in a fantasy without any control.
The tale’s teller says that the other person can speak, but she won’t hear them. If they try to touch her, they won’t be satisfied. She adds that they can’t hurt her and their possession of her has been “put to rest.” The narrator challenges the other person to “try to control me” because “your efforts are wasted breath.”
Ultimately she concludes that she blamed the other person for so long as they “rendered me powerless, hoping for some.”
Conclusion
Retrospective is a melancholy, powerful musical journey through ReveLever’s unique sound. I enjoy the nuance, emotional depth and sonic imagery as it unfolds across all of the album’s tracks.
