The Notochords's newest EP, PARABELLUM, is a trendy smorgasbord of songs that dance wonderfully on the eardrums, arousing emotions with its expressive vocal play. Each song can be a standalone act while simultaneously feeling like an extension of what The Notochords's sound is: young, vibrant, and evocative. While the experience may be short-lived, the effect is lasting.

PARABELLUM reminds me of a fine dining establishment on a busy night. Lots of hype, good efficiency, and prepared to your liking.

The EP opens with a brief track in Boys At School. In terms of consistency and style, the song is the most technical and retro of the offerings. It is classical, dramatic, and a bit operatic. More impressively, the track exhibits The Notochords's skill in control and cohesion. It does plenty to excite the listener in what is to come.

The EP's first full-length offering, I Don't Wanna Do This Anymore, is a fast-hitting, electropop, smooth cover that electrifies the soul. On the surface, Dagny Oakley's lead vocals boast an incredibly light yet striking tone conveying the necessary aura for commanding such a pop track, but underneath, it is the collective effort by the group that carries the momentum. Take your pick: bustling vocal lines, propulsive percussion, or slick harmonies that ooze with utter satisfaction. The track has it all.

The momentum of PARABELLUM then takes a major shift albeit for the better with Go or Go Ahead. What starts with a somber opening transforms into an elegant vocal tapestry full of emotional fanfare. Go or Go Ahead wonderfully signifies the importance of pacing as Apple DeGeorge's gorgeous solo hits just as hard in the first half of the song as it does in the latter. This is only possible because of the unwavering and intentional commitment to the song's build, executed by both the percussionist and the backing group. There are slight moments where the track's mix is pushed to its audible limits causing hints of distortion, but it is fleeting, never detracting from the gripping nature of the song.

If you like theatrics, then the EP closer Won't Take Me Alive is right for you. When it comes to albums or EPs I am of the mindset of "go out with a bang", be it high-energy or high-emotion. This track has that big sound! The duet by Ronson Carr Jr. & Sophia Rodriguez shows two very charismatic singers who welcome the spotlight. Layer that on top of an arrangement that is stylish, flowing with a mix of hip-hop edge and rock power, and you have something special. Like the lead-up to a Broadway intermission, this song has such a cool sound with an incredible build to the climax before ending on a massive chord. The Notochords chose a strong and appropriate closer.

PARABELLUM in just a few words is short and sweet, and more groups should be okay with delivering projects like this. It is enjoyable and calls for more from this group.

The Notochords are back with their 2024 ICCA set on PARABELLUM, which made me very happy to hear after their release last year of M3. However, while I think that The Notochords deliver another fine set that they should no doubt be proud of, the 2024 release doesn't pack the same punch that I had gotten the year prior.

Leading off with I Don't Wanna Do This Anymore (after a quick 45-second leadup of Boys at School), soloist Dagny Oakley opens up with a similar force and finesse that she showed on the opener of last year's release. The backing vocals keep right up with her tempo and dynamics, especially once we get to the bridge. Shoutout to vocal percussionist Farhan Nahin, who has the large responsibility of keeping this track moving at the right tempo with a very quick and intricate beat from start to finish — I can only imagine the difficulty of doing this live and not accidentally speeding this up too fast. Nahin and Oakley really make this track pop, and it's definitely my favorite on the EP — I easily could have had ten minutes of this track and been very happy.

As we shift to Go or Go Ahead, all of the energy that the previous track had built up really hits a wall, and I wonder if there was too much of a dropoff. Even with the change in feel and mood, the backing vocals do not feel like they are supporting soloist Apple DeGeorge the same way that they did for the soloist on the first track. DeGeorge's solo is tender and beautiful with a wonderful straight tone through the choruses that lend very well to this track, but I think the sustained "ahh"s in the background are a detriment to the support. Adding a bit of rhythm to the first verse may have helped keep the sound moving forward a bit more rather than it somewhat stagnating. In the second verse, the energy does pick up as the backing vocal parts increase in intricacy, to the point where they may be overshadowing DeGeorge a bit in certain spots. On next year's release, I would like to see a bit more consistency with the energy levels.

The final track, Won't Take Me Alive, tries to bring back some of the energy from the first song and almost gets there for the whole track, but the heavy lifting does still feel like it's coming more from soloists Ronson Carr Jr. and Sophia Rodriguez in the beginning. Granted, these two have great vocal chemistry and blend incredibly well, not to mention that they have incredible upper registers as displayed around the 1:40 mark ... my goodness! As the track winds down following that moment, there are some beautiful vocals in the background that really tie the track and the EP together, culminating in a final chord that seemingly comes out of nowhere for the grand finale.

Overall, there's still things for The Notochords to work on, but there's no doubt that the talent is there and I look forward to more releases from the group in the years to come.

PARABELLUM is The Notochords's 2024 ICCA set adapted to EP format. It's great to see more collegiate groups doing this, as it allows preserving these competition sets beyond just iffy-quality YouTube videos from said events. And The Notochords of VCU definitely have a set worth preserving here, as there's a very well-rounded sound with fantastic solo work and great pacing. As I've mentioned about a lot of very solid collegiate groups at this level, the next step is to either further pursue technical excellence, or experiment more with risk-taking song choice and sound.

Boys At School is a hauntingly beautiful intro, partially adapting the work of Spellling with a gorgeous solo by Sophia Rodriguez. An intro like this actually makes me ponder why it needs to remain as just an intro, and we can't get even more of the original song.

It does, however, serve as a clean bridge into the uptune I Don't Wanna Do This Anymore, providing the mid-set energy we've come to expect from a solid ICCA set. This transitions of course into Go or Go Ahead as the ballad and finally into Won't Take Me Alive as the second uptempo kicker. All of this is performed concisely with strong backing vocals, and a good sense of dynamics and evolving textures keep the listener consistently engaged.

The Notochords have a lot to be proud of — so where do they go from here?

One path forward, as mentioned above, is a further pursuit of technical excellence. It may sound boring, but some groups genuinely become legendary from a sheer mastery of the fundamentals. The biggest fundamental shortcoming, to me, in The Notochords's sound is probably the blend — it's fine and serviceable, but there is a still a noticeable disconnect in the resonance alignment between the different background parts. There are plenty of individual fantastic singers, but they're not always singing the same language. Another area of improvement is in the dynamics and texture changes — I noted that these were good, but the group can do even more to double down on them, as well as more to align the musicality of the soloist with that of the background parts (which sometimes diverge).

The path I would prefer The Notochords to pursue first, however, is further experimentation with the contest set structure and the possible song choices. The set here, using minor-key-epic-dissonant-uptempos sandwiching an extra stripped down ballad is a tried-and-true ICCA formula that is both safe and a difficult-to-escape trap. There is too much to explore in a competition format that is intended to be near limitless for a cappella to stay confined in such an oddly specific formula and sound. While further technical excellence is certainly another valid pursuit, sometimes that actually comes more easily when pursuing song and set choices that even better fit the group.

As I've had to mention to a lot of collegiate groups recently, the liner notes for this EP definitely need some work. Crediting the original performing artist is fine, but not necessary. Crediting the original songwriters, on the other hand, is necessary. This does not affect score, but it is still worth mentioning.

The Notochords of VCU have put together a great ICCA set, one that I am glad is now presented in the more easily preserved recorded a cappella format. It is not my place to judge that ICCA set as it was presented in front of an audience, nor is it fitting to review this EP outside the context of it being a competition set. That being said, the work done to improve the recorded version of future sets will almost certainly carry over to improve the future competition sets themselves, and vice versa. I look forward to seeing how The Notochords continue to evolve and hone their craft.