Late '80s me probably would have really dug Viridescent — Volume II.

What there was of contemporary collegiate a cappella back then was very much a novelty. Expectations were relatively low and the enjoyment and fun of attending a concert or popping in a dubbed cassette that you borrowed from a friend whose older sibling went to Tufts, or Penn, or Stanford, was simply in hearing some of your favorite pop/rock tunes rendered sans instruments altogether. Sure, many of the arrangements were treble-heavy; yes, the rudimentary aca-syllables were a bit cheesy; and the vp — to the extent there was any — was most often weak and pretty ineffectual. But we didn't care. It was (relatively) shiny and new and different and creative and we ate it up.

More than three decades later, however, that sort of generosity and forgiving nature has been obliterated by artistic progress, technological advancements, and the benefits of lots and lots of experience — with so many groups constantly raising the bar for what passes as "average" collegiate a cappella these days would have mopped the floor with the scholastic groups of the late 20th century.

Enter Viridescent, a seemingly very newly-formed group from the University of Vermont. Online dictionaries define "Viridescent" as "green". And while the green is the color of nature in the spring when things are new — an apt association for this ensemble — green is also associated with the notion of inexperience, and I'm afraid that too is apropos in assessing Volume II.

Hopefully needless to say, it gives me no pleasure to assign "1"s and "2"s to any album. In particular, it's no fun when the efforts of those involved are unmistakeable. To be clear, no one in Viridescent is phoning it in and, in what I'm guessing may have been a maiden voyage for Joe Hazell in recording, editing, and mixing this album (as well as arranging five of its seven selections), the vocals themselves are preserved purely, with a warm, rich sound and a decent blend that pleases.

Alas, it's almost everything else about Volume II that leaves a good deal of room for improvement. The arrangements are not entirely of the block chord/single homophonic rhythm variety, but they rarely become much more sophisticated than that. What's more, if the group has true basses, one would be hard-pressed to know it, as voicings rarely dip lower than baritone range and as such, there is no anchor to the group sound — an especially disappointing reality in such anthemic choices as XO, Elastic Heart, and Diamonds. Sometimes the arranging choices betray the source material — by way of example, the quirky, closely mic'd, somewhat dissonant Dirty AF1s becomes a kitschy bop here and robs the song of its essential character. The Weekend is taken at about 1.5x the pace of the original, and the already odd ending to the original is rendered here as something that feels like a lazy fraternity/sorority step show.

And while there is vp credited on all but one song, this is an area where Hazell should perhaps have turned over the reins to someone with more experience in recording and/or mixing. To the extent one can even hear a kick drum on any of the songs featured, it sounds no better — and no more impactful — than a lightly tapping foot. Most of the vp is all light lip pops, roof-of-the-mouth rim shots, and "shushy" cymbal noises — quite simply, it's mostly mush and doesn't do anything to support or boost the energy of the tunes that desperately need it (like the three anthems mentioned above and also The Weekend).

I'll stop now because again, I think this group has promise if it recognizes its weaknesses and strives to improve them. The core group of voices are talented and soloists Yazzi Nsame and Meg Dever are standouts in their moments. So there is much to build on here. They just have around 30 years of catching up to do.

Volume II, the latest release from University of Vermont Viridescent, is pleasant but uninspired. Following in the steps of their 2022 self-titled EP, Volume II is a victim of poor production choices.

The album begins with Goldwing, a mostly transcriptive arrangement of the Billie Eilish original. Clocking in at just 46 seconds, Goldwing serves as a brief interlude to our first full track, The Weekend. Yazzi Nsame delivers a solo performance on this one that I think SZA would approve of, but she is overshadowed by group vocals that have been too heavily edited and an unnecessarily busy arrangement.

Speculate showcases the arranging and performance abilities of Joe Hazell. Unfortunately though, issues with volume balance will distract listeners from the heartbreaking nature of the lyrics. The percussion sounds faint and sonically lost within the mix, a problem that permeates the entire album. XO, like other arrangements on Volume II, suffers from some glaring voice leading mistakes that make the track feel harmonically aimless. First and second inversion chords are used without serving a specific musical purpose and the resulting sound is muddy and unstable.

Dirty AF1s again highlights the arranging and performance abilities of Hazell. With natural sounding arrangements like these, it would be ideal to have production that matches and captures that organic vocal quality. However, the result here is a flat and compressed sound that detracts from, rather than complements, the arrangements. Similar to XO, Elastic Heart is another example of chord voicing mistakes that really minimize the musical impact of certain moments in the track.

The album concludes with a lackluster cover of Diamonds that really just makes me want to go listen to that tasty Nor'Easters version (circa 2013). Volume II is neither good nor bad but if you're searching for exciting and innovative vocal music, I would search elsewhere.

I'm changing up my writing style a bit for this review of University of Vermont-Montpelier's Viridescent's Volume II because I want to sound more like a clinician and less like a professor grading papers for this new group's first album. Though, because I'm still at teacher at heart, I'm aiming for critiques that lead to growth, that view groups and performances as always having room to improve even after a recording is uploaded to streaming services.

I tend to give similar words of wisdom to new groups once they've mastered the basics of a cappella. Focus on musicality, on the articulation and direction of phrases. Differentiate between which of the background parts are the most important at a given moment because rarely should they be equal in volume. Give energetic (which ≠ loud) performances that the audience can feel from the back of the house or that keeps the listener engaged in the recording. All of these general critiques would help elevate the performances of the appropriately-named "green" ensemble's first large-scale recording.

But there are also some specific critiques that I hope will dispel questions for them and others of how to sing contemporary a cappella. For example, if your group is already deciding to take SZA's The Weekend a little faster, making it more of a groove than a slow jam which I'm not mad at, then there's no need to include the strange ending, especially when you do it half-hearted at best. Why not write your own ending, which has the added benefit of setting your group's version apart even more while "fixing" something tricky or less-than-ideal about the original track? Otherwise, I quite liked the first 85% of this intricate, varied arrangement by Joe Hazell.

When covering a charismatic, unique performer such as Beyoncé, you have to bring it. This version of XO feels ordinary, like just another pop song instead of an intense yet floaty track. Overdo the dynamic contrasts and change up the syllable choices to make this chart stand out. Similarly, Elastic Heart and Diamonds feel meek and square rather than bold and playing with our melodic and rhythmic expectations. And the soloists have to sell it and the group has to match their energy!

Finally, the basses sound buried, both in the mix and in the lines as written for them. On XO, Dirty AF1s, and even Goldwing, you can't substitute inversions: you need the strength of chord roots in the bass for pop music. And on Elastic Heart and Diamonds, the basses are singing more of "lower baritone" lines that go better with the uppers but disconnects them from the vp. Don't be afraid to change the key of a song so that they can sing an actual bass line, especially if low notes are not their strength. In addition, on most tracks but especially Speculate and Elastic Heart, the vp's crucial bass/kick drum sounds are either muffled and/or lacking strength. You have to set your rhythm section up for success — they make all the difference!

There's a great foundation for Viridescent after only one year. Now it's time to take it to the next level.