The idiom "catching lightning in a bottle" seems relevant to The New Dominions's latest album (genuine). The phrase dates back to Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment, where he supposedly caught electricity in a jar. It is a metaphor to describe an achievement that appears to be difficult or unlikely. The first half of the tracks featured on (genuine) leave a lot to be desired; however, The New Dominions catch lightning in the album's backend, recovering in a big way.

Conceptually, (genuine) works as a complete body of work. Track selection is top-notch, balancing popular songs with new surprises that audiences may not know. The New Dominions also balance the scales with solo selections, giving listeners a fair amount of higher and lower lead vocals.

In some of the early tracks, the group finds itself in murky water as concerns lie mostly with the arranging.

Bad Habit, Skin on Skin and Easy are tracks that are not bad sounding, but lack serious dynamism. A cappella music is in a current state where nearly carbon copy arrangements of songs no longer work. Each of these three tracks miss an element of creative substance that normal instrument-based tracks can get away with by using repetitive components. All-vocal tracks rarely can nowadays.

Matilda highlights a disparity between energy and emotional conviction, another sore spot on the album, which is eventually rectified in the ending tracks. Although the song is somber in nature, it suffers in moments from needing greater vocal peaks to stand on its own.

Now for the REALLY good stuff!

I absolutely love the moments on (genuine) where The New Dominions display collective singing, as well as harmonizing. <3 is one of the best tracks on the album! The performance is emotionally driven, technically sound, and has some of the best crescendos I have heard in some time. The choral singing is stellar and is commendable.

Baby in Blue is another standout performance on the album, as it feels like everything just clicks for the group at this point. Next to Everybody Wants to Rule the World, it is the album's grandest vocal moments. Each chorus holds so much momentum, due mainly in part to both Syd Kirk's commanding and dreamy vocals, and the backing group's unwavering ability to match energy with its lead. The track is gorgeously paced, bringing out its rich soulfulness and I simply cannot get enough of it.

But as always, you save the best for last. In Everybody Wants to Rule the World the New Dominions take an '80s classic and flip it on its head. The immaculate production, creative opening, and my GOD the harmonies, elevate the listening experience. The New Dominions find their footing creatively with this track. And Jules Herman needs to be in consideration for Best Mixed Collegiate Lead Vocal! What she does with this solo is otherworldly.

(genuine) has a few stumbles in its opening, but crushes the landing! Listen until the very end and thank me later.

Much like the joy you get in receiving a message from an old friend, it's always nice to hear from RARB frequenters. The New Dominions are back again with (genuine). This album lives up to its name. It's a very genuine offering of emotion and choral sound. However, this often leads to moments devoid of impact and a lack of overall appeal.

Love Again starts out strong. This Dua Lipa hit is very bass and percussion driven, and the groove is dominant. The middle voices act more as percussive textures, while the top voices act as floating sustains. There's only a handful of textures going on, but they all play very well together to fill the space and operate as a cohesive grooving unit. Emily Pasquinelli's solo has strength, opting to be equal parts strong and sultry, helping to push everything forward while still being free to tell a story. However, while there is an implied climax to the piece, there is no definitively climactic moment. After the first few measures at a lessened volume, everything operates at roughly a mezzo-forte dynamic. There are no drastic dynamic changes or huge powerful moments that truly demand the listener to stop and pay attention.

This lack of dynamic continues into pieces like <3. This Jacob Collier song is a musicality marathon. Jack Kehoe's arranging is very solid, giving vast swaths of colorful chords. It's melodic and peaceful. However, there are a lot of moments where I just want more. There are forte-piano moments that are present, but there could be a much larger dynamic swing. The final chorus should be huge and dense, and yet, somehow, the loudest moments of the piece are the hummed chords at the beginning. I would love to see this live purely to see if the issues are balancing in the studio or if it is the fault of the group. Choral pieces live and die in the dynamics and the soundscape the group can create. When there is no designated soloist to act as a focal point, the group has to find one. The group has all the ability but just needs the strength and intensity to make the loud moments powerful and the soft moments reserved and tranquil.

It takes almost the entire length of the album to get to a solid moment, but the strongest performances of the group come right at the end of the album. It's easy to see that arranger Jack Kehoe comes back with some of the same chord structures as <3, but this time with more intention and contrast in Baby in Blue. Syd Kirk's solo balances power with wistfulness, using the full emotional spectrum. When the largest moments hit in the chorus, I'm forced to stop and listen. When the softer moments come around, I'm transported back to tranquility. However, this piece lacks some intricacy and color in the more laid-back moments. Even quiet moments can have interest, but this track is missing a little something to truly make every moment interesting.

(genuine) has all the right pieces, but not ever concurrently. There are moments where all textures are playing really well to fill the space and keep interest. There are many colorful and interesting chords. The dynamic impacts shine gloriously when they exist. However, the great moments are scattered among lesser moments that don't have these elements. As a whole, the album is a good listen, but not a great listen that keeps me wanting to come back again and again. 

One of my favorite a cappella coaches once bestowed on my quartet the wisdom, "equal is death". While peculiar at first, the message stuck with me and has rung even more true ever since: seek every opportunity for change and evolution in music-making. Every component of a piece should seek to continue to find new ways to maintain momentum and hold interest, otherwise it gives the listener the opportunity to zone out. Unfortunately, this message became especially distracting when listening to (genuine) — The New Dominions are missing quite a bit of their flavor from past albums, and it shows itself in too many instances of stagnation.

In my last review, I mentioned that the group hit some of its best strides when fast-paced rhythms were involved. Love Again is a good example of where that can still ring true, and Dua Lipa's nostalgia pop sound fits super well as an opener to this album. While flashy at first, however, on further listens I started to notice just how much less invested the background vocals are in the song (unlike on Puzzle & Code). It becomes especially noticeable on the "goddamn" echoes that repeat throughout — they feel very much just "there", without any of the edge or expression in the original song. Additionally, while the soloist brings a beautiful warm tone to this solo that fits incredibly well, I feel that more could've been done to bring out the lyrics and rhythm as the song evolves.

While I do wish Love Again went further, it's still a very fun and enjoyable track. I cannot say I enjoy Bad Habit or Pool nearly as much, however. The issues of stagnation and lack of expression manifest themselves in far more ways. Each track has large sections of exposed emptiness in the arrangements, repetition without development, and some bizarre production choices that almost sound like editing mistakes (e.g., that held solo overlay moment 1:50 into Bad Habit that seems to blend with neither the solo nor background). This is especially concerning considering how much the original versions of each of these relies on the continuously developing playfulness of the vocals, and how almost none of that is here. Easy especially lacks this playfulness when it most needs it; I'm baffled that those executions of the "woo, woo"s made it on the final cut of the album. <3, Skin on Skin, and Matilda have very similar issues regarding lack of development, but they at least sound significantly more cohesive and fulfilling than the prior mentioned three.

Thankfully, MESS U MADE, Baby in Blue, and Everybody Wants to Rule the World remind us how good New Dominions can be at their expected standard. They're cohesive, voices move and develop, and the soloists hardly give your ears a moment to zone out. On the other hand, these tracks hit a similar limiting factor that I had noticed on past New Dominions' albums: a confined range of dynamic contrast and few risks taken. So unlike Puzzle & Code, an album where I saw two steps backward for the group mixed with two steps forward, here I'm hearing additional issues alongside an already expected baseline.

It isn't a great feeling to wrap up a not-so-positive review, especially when the review is about a group I had previously written positively about. But it is all the more important — hearing how good the New Dominions have been in the past spoiled me and makes me want to keep hearing them at that level, if not higher. They can achieve those levels, too — the work to get there starts with attention to details that go far beyond the notes on the page.