If popular wisdom on social media is "never read the comments", then perhaps the equivalent for a cappella albums is "never read the liner notes". At least not before you've listened to the album.

I say this because the production credits are front and center when a group submits an album to RARB for review, and when the tech credits are Nick Girard, Ed Boyer, and Bill Hare, and the featured arrangers are Jon Smith, Shams Ahmed, and Ben Bram, suffice it to say that one's expectations are immediately heightened.

That may not be entirely fair, but it's to the credit of SoundProof — the name of the high school a cappella group that is housed by KC A Cappella (a non-profit arts organization in the KC metropolitan area) — that they deliver on much of the promise that their "hired guns" already promise merely by being listed in the credits.

Indeed, on its surface, this is a shiny, slick, flawlessly-edited and -tuned, neatly-sampled and sequenced as needed, more-than-capably performed album, that features some soloists that would be the envy of many a collegiate — and even professional — group.

So what's nagging at me?

I feel like it could have been even more.

High school a cappella certainly doesn't require any material to be "dumbed down" for its practitioners — as perhaps it once did, when the collegiate craze started to spill over to the younger folks — so it's hard not to be a bit frustrated when a group this big and this talented doesn't always seem to be using all of the tools at its disposal.

Of course, it's also hard to know if it's the group, its faculty/leadership, and/or the individual arrangers on each song who determined how big or small the approach to a given song might be. But for this reviewer, at least, I wanted the collective creative powers to aim higher. The swing/jazz feel of the second verse of Greedy is unexpected and delightful, but the transition back to the original groove of the arrangement is abrupt and clunky, and that groove itself is too monophonic in the backs for a song with so much possibility for rhythmic interplay between voices. The monophony is even more egregious in Light On, which is basically bass + vp + a monophonic background that alternates between held chords, aca-syllables, and word echoes against the soloist. It's all fine and good, and performed excellently, but can't help but get a little boring. The same is true for the closing Santa Can't You Hear Me, which is the only selection featured here that feels a little messy and muddy, in addition to going on a bit longer than needed without having anything new to say. Indeed, this may also be why the group favors shorter versions of songs — in the case of If It All Goes South, as one example, they chop more than 2.5 minutes off the original, and it's perhaps for the best, as the approach is once again glossy and sparkling, but it also robs the original of much of its quirkiness. Ditto for Forbidden Fruit, which gets cut from 3:40 to 2:20 here, and thus eliminates any semblance of a journey that might have made the dubstep-esque breakdown and subsequent wailing on the back half of song a bit less sudden and a bit more "earned".

My scores should tell you that notwithstanding the above, I still think very highly of this album and of this group. There's unquestionably a metric ton of talent here and they have all of the right ingredients in their leadership and the third-party creative folks they collaborate with to make even more fantastic music. My hope is only that they might temper their instinct toward the radio-ready sheen they currently seem to favor, and dig deeper and push harder and chase a level of sophistication and nuance and emotional connection that is absolutely within their reach if they are willing to go there.

If you're wondering why KC A Cappella named this album Writings On The Wall, then just wait until you get to track four on this EP: there are some BIG SOUNDS and BIG FEELS on the title tune. Soloist Dylan Markey sounds like literal fire, coming in with a markedly paced lead that will grab your attention before he starts soaring into the stratosphere with a tone that's both smooth and strong and a powerful top end that's nearly unfathomable. If you told me that my glass would shatter, I'd believe you — his lead is hair-standing-on-end good, and this is a rare track where I wish RARB's rating scale went up to a "6".

The rest of Writings On The Wall sounds great but doesn't capture the same lightning in a bottle. Overall, this EP sounds shiny and bright — these are glossy songs with glossy, bright production. It's easy to listen to, and the whole recording has an "I can't believe high school students can sound this good!" vibe. On the surface, it sounds perfect. (And, as an aside: major shout-out to the bass line on Santa Can't You Hear Me, which is a fantastic melody and keeps the whole song grounded without distracting from the lead.)

But when you start listening a little more closely, some of the imperfections start to appear. For starters, Light On is just way too fast. Soloist Ellie McManamy has a wonderful tone, but there are times where she sounds like she's struggling to keep up with the rest of the group. The verses on If It All Goes South are great, but the choruses just don't quite gel in my ears. And EP-opening Greedy has a fun and layered arrangement, but the lead just doesn't convey the song's emotion.

Put another way, some of the problems here are that the songs sound too polished and, as a result, don't really connect emotionally. These singers all have the chops and a recording/production team that makes them sound shiny, but I'd like to hear a little bit more of the human element — some grit and guts behind the gloss.

SoundProof is one of the great success stories of the high school a cappella scene. It started as a group just trying to bring a cappella to the high school choral community and has evolved all the way to becoming an ICHSA champion. Writings On The Wall aims to showcase the most recent lineup of the group and the legacy it continues to create. The result is star-studded, both in and behind the scenes, but is missing the energetic depth to consistently keep the listener's attention.

Let's deep dive with Greedy. This track is ambitious. Layla Ledford does a stellar job of paying homage to Ariana Grande while making the solo their own. However, the group does few favors to support the solo. There's really only about two dynamics here: on and off. It feels like everything exists at a loud dynamic, and there's minimal variation unless the group isn't singing. There's moments where you can hear the group trying to have some dynamic variation, but it feels very short-lived. There is a lack of punch and intensity in the entrances that is holding the group back from giving the full effect. Consider the switch to a jazz breakdown in the second verse. This style change happens in the arrangement, but it doesn't happen in the speakers. You can hear the walking bassline, but it's missing the intent of the swing feel. The punches in the upper voicings are missing the syncopations and dramatic hits. This could be a really cool section to provide variation to a piece that could otherwise be very boring, but instead it just becomes a bit of a disjointed moment. Variations in dynamic and energetic intent would make all those micro-moments pop.

However, when we look at ambitious tracks that fully succeed, look no further than the titular track. This arrangement is pretty storied as the closing number on a winning ICCA set. For a piece that is so incredibly well known, it's not far-fetched for listeners (myself included) to know both and almost immediately make comparisons. However, this also showcases the strength of SoundProof. The group absolutely delivers on this track. Dylan Markey's solo is otherworldly — a spectacle for adult performers, much less a teenager. There are incredibly powerful moments interwoven with dynamic contrasts that make every moment special. This is not a piece that asks for your attention, it's a piece that reaches through the speakers, grabs the listener by the collar, and forces them to pay attention for the full number. These are the moments that will make you listen and do a double-take when being told these are high schoolers.

However, the duality of these two tracks explains my trouble scoring this album. For the highs that this album has, there are moments that just feel to be missing that sparkle. It's like you can hear through the album which tracks the group really likes and which ones they just perform because the director told them they have to. If the group can find all those micro-moments across every song and make them notable, it would make every track special and prove that SoundProof isn't just good, they really are one of the best in the game. Take a listen and see if you agree.