Music educators: this is still your example, this is still a great bar. OneVoice pairs up the best working arrangers with the most powerful scholastic voices, and you can sit back and marvel or follow their program to create your own success story. Despite the masterful vocal art and sophisticated arranging on display, Free Fallin is a little less without the strong thematic elements that tied together previous releases from OneVoice, be it the overall concept for the music included on the album or the transitional motifs between songs.

Free Fallin is bookended with effervescent, vibrant pieces that sound like the very best a glee club could offer a gymnasium of students. Hit Me With Your Best Shot absolutely sparkles, with a demanding solo line that requires equal parts belting and bravado. I'm sure lead Josie Todd is sipping soothing warm tea after this one. Don't Stop Believin' has a fresh vibe from the original with its jubilant style, and the kind of energy that drives every note.

It's all a bit "quarters for the jukebox" between, with incredible highs and a few pretty good takes, but not the usual steady high achievement that OneVoice creates. Alone is totally revamped, almost sounding like a moody Stevie Nicks cover now. Love in the Dark lead Abbey Brennan is working those notes, with a decided effort to make each breath sound and a beautiful timbre, too. When that first chorus hits, so do the big feelings. Too Good At Goodbyes features lovely bell-like backgrounds in the beginning; a really poignant way to use rhythm to set the mood. The duet in this message-driven song also adds a conversation element to the music. Flowers seems like the only slip here; a bit too transcriptive, with an odd drumline cadence at the end.

The title track, Free Fallin', is simply fantastic. It opens with a gentle, soft soloist, and for me, harkens back to OneVoice's 2021 track Dancing In The Dark with its touch of somberness. Obviously recorded a cappella is not an acoustic performance, but Free Fallin' has that vibe of a small group sitting on stools, bearing their hearts for the audience sitting quietly before them.

But hold up, OneVoice went there: a cover of the already incredibly-covered Hallelujah. This is a marked departure from previous OneVoice pieces, which are often well-known hits but never complete staples in the a cappella community. The technical proficiency demonstrated on Hallelujah is other-worldly, in a league of its own. This difficult arrangement also has clear movements constructing the pacing, like an orchestral stage performance, with a surprising final movement that could be called I Stand Before the Lord of Song. It must be quite an experience live.

Hearing new pieces from Mr. Frizzell's OneVoice is always uplifting. Continued accolades to masterful arranger Rob Dietz, with a memorable entry from Matt Goldstein on Hallelujah. These two always submit their creative best, growing as arrangers the same way a high school choir grows as the seasons pass. Whether you're a longtime fan or new to OneVoice, the group's entire captivating catalog awaits you, Free Fallin included.

Free Fallin, OneVoice's newest entry into its storied discography, follows a tried-and-true formula led by tasteful covers of nostalgic classics. The result is a strong album buoyed by tuneful, catchy songs that can easily be left on repeat.

A trademark approach of OneVoice over the years, this album is bookended by popular tunes of yesteryear performed at an elevated tempo that intentionally shifts the song's feel into something uniquely theirs. This year's entries, Hit Me With Your Best Shot and Don't Stop Believin', are easy songs to include on any party playlist, and have been arranged in ways that lend themselves to high-energy, innovative performances by the group — kudos to Rob Dietz, the album's primary arranger. Don't Stop Believin', for example, with its driving percussive and background rhythms throughout, creatively features entire verse and pre-chorus phrases highlighted by syncopation, refreshingly bringing new life to such a known quantity. The uptempo brightness of Hit Me With Your Best Shot gives an extra shot of energy to the call-and-response strains in the background lines and helps to support an extremely strong solo turn by Josie Todd. The same formula continues for Alone, performed by OneVoice as you've never heard it before, with an extra bounciness that doesn't take away from the Heart of the song. (... see what I did there?)

OneVoice's many strengths and secure foundation are consistently on display, a testament to the excellent musical culture that Dr. J.D. Frizzell has brought to his Memphis-area high school ensemble. As a result, even for the less-groundbreaking tracks, the floor is high. The renditions that receive "Good" ratings have a great deal to appreciate, paling in comparison only due to the high bar the group itself has set. The title track suffers somewhat from monotony and a lack of an arrival point, but still, there is a great deal to like about it from both a musical and architectural standpoint. Hallelujah doesn't quite have an overall flow between its many verses and it doesn't always feel as though the elements fully congeal, but there is consonance and enthusiasm in each individual verse that is easy to get behind.

All told, the 2024 entry into OneVoice's collection is another hit parade and, as usual, I could not recommend you get your ears to it soon enough.

OneVoice is at it again and as strong as ever. Free Fallin is the latest release from the perennial powerhouse at Briarcrest and these high school students are firing on all cylinders. With strong arrangements, an array of stellar musicians, and a jaw-dropping level of musicality, this album is a must-add to any collection.

The ballads are the bread and butter of OneVoice's repertoire. Take a look at Love in the Dark. One of the challenges of a singer as iconically powerful as Adele is that many soloists will try so hard to copy her sound. Soloist Abbey Brennan instead takes the solo and makes it their own. This song is now sold by its sincerity rather than an onslaught of power. While there are still powerful moments, they come as an accenting moment in the climax. The group underneath provides full support to let the story be told. Everyone is working together, and it's brilliant.

The uptempo pieces breathe a new life into classic rock pieces. Don't Stop Believin' is a bold choice, as it is so universally known and loved. Taking the piece and reimagining it to the extent that arranger Rob Dietz did is a tightrope walk, as fans could love the new styling or hate it purely because it is so different from the original. I fall into the first group, loving the brighter and more driving sound. Many groups have tried to cover this piece, but this is the first time I've seen a group take it and make it their own. Hit Me With Your Best Shot does much of the same. There are remembered elements of the original piece, but there is enough invention to make the piece new and fun.

However, when we think about dangerous covers to make, Hallelujah is near the very top of that list. I've been a part of multiple choirs that covered this song and heard many more. This song is universally loved and cherished for its simplicity and unbridled sincerity and vulnerability. The piece starts with that same vulnerability and Charlie Allen puts their heart on their sleeve as the soloist. However, the piece begins to grow and evolve. Matt Goldstein's arrangement keeps finding fresh elements to add. There is a new added dimension of theatricality that I can't help but love. This piece ebbs and flows. There are so many colorful chords that are painted throughout the work. Where I would normally find myself listening to a piece and sucked into the nostalgia of it, this has been replaced with awe here. Hallelujah is captivating and enchanting, demanding a listen for its intrigue and standalone beauty.

If there's one flaw for Free Fallin, it's that it might be a little heavy with downtempo pieces, both as emotion-heavy ballads and more transitional pieces across the album. It doesn't become boring, but more like it loses some of the overall luster of the release because I'm waiting for the high-energy pieces to add some variation. However, that could also be worded as asking the group for a couple more songs. I'm captive to the sound and I want just a little more. This is an album that is a great listen and one you're sure to enjoy.