For me, the most impactful and lasting music can be compared to a wonderful story arc. It takes the audience on a journey, be it a slow build or intense action from the first line, before crescendoing into a fantastic climax and resolution that makes the experience satisfying. Similarly, that journey should be present in a song or album, emotionally or audibly. First Light scratches the surface in effectively delivering arcs, but I worry if enough deep cuts are made to warrant a second pass from listeners.

The members of Shades of Blue A Cappella are darn good musicians first and foremost. Their vocal prowess is right on par with some of the best scholastic groups currently producing studio music. What is evident in their singing is their accuracy in the small details of blend, rhythm, and clarity in the finished product.

While First Light passes the initial ear test, my concerns lie with the album's lack of variance in overall tone and song selection. Excluding a small portion of the album, most tracks fall in the range of mid-tempo to a driving ballad.

Lighthouse opens with a genuine smoothness and honesty that hints to the listener that they are in for something good. There are moments on the track where the mix is imbalanced, being too heavy on the low-end, which muffles the higher vocals. Perhaps the most notable element of the opening track is that it's a precursor to how the following songs will sound and feel. Anyone, As I Am, and Anybody Else are the more obvious candidates that check the box on presenting a similar mood and intensity factor, and stay within a similar emotional threshold.

It is in these moments that song selection matters. This is a component that is on the same level as stylistic choices executed on a track.

Now, while this may be a factor on First Light, the album itself has a few surprises.

Nothing Else Matters is beautifully dark and enthralling with its slower pacing and angsty delivery. Sydney Driscoll's lower range is the true star of the experience, easily resonating with every listener who has faced the unavoidable struggles of the world. It makes the experience that much more impressive when she effortlessly transitions to her head voice. The moment is absolutely needed as a welcomed contrast to the other lighter rock selections.

First Light is another track that will leave you wanting more. The flowing and almost gliding effect in which vocals enter at times is memorizing. And Addie Miller's power vocals coupled with her innateness to not only anticipate moments to build, but then to also deliver quality vocal runs is pure magic.

First Light is not devoid of talent or captivation. It is, quite technically sound. It could, however, concentrate the skills of Shades of Blue towards branching out of the group's comfort zone. Growth lies right outside of our comfort zones, and I think that is where the group will really find its next masterpiece.

Shades of Blue absolutely erupted onto the scene with its first full release two years ago, and there's clearly no sophomore slump for these high school students. First Light is a polished release that is just dripping with emotional vulnerability and theatricality. It will have you deep within your feelings and loving every second of it.

The first thing I really noticed about this album is how sleek and polished it is. From the jump, the group showcases itself as smooth and focused. The rhythmic interplay in Lighthouse between all the voice parts is impressive. The multi-part arpeggios are so clean you can eat off them. Anyone has incredible balance and blend across passages with lyrics. The tuning is consistently tight. This is a group that took the time to not just learn the music, but perfect it. They did the hard work to examine individual phrases to align everything. It may be incredibly boring during the rehearsal process, but it shows in every second of the recording.

However, more impressive than the musical ability of the singers is their ability to tap into emotions. It'll Be Okay might be my favorite track on the album just for the pure vulnerability that exists across the track. Quinn Mazon's solo is a balance of technical and serene that creates a perfect focal point for this piece, which is sold by the balance of micro and macro moments. Individual measures and phrases are constantly swelling and decaying to create an entire musical landscape. However, as the piece continues, the climax seems to be both fully expected and a total surprise. When that big moment comes, it's almost cathartic, making me love this piece even more. These high school students have a level of emotional awareness that is beyond their years.

If there's one flaw with First Light, it's that the ending is a bit clunky. Out of Love never really settles into a tempo; this piece lacks the sense of direction that most of the other tracks on the album have. There are so many directional changes and beats accented with silence that the piece never settles and the big moments feel forced. GO ON WITHOUT ME is a live recording, but it's also the first true uptempo piece of the album. It somehow fits perfectly as an ending, but I would love to hear this with the rough edges smoothed out by some studio magic. The closers are still good pieces, but not nearly to the level of excellence as the rest of the album.

There is a stereotype of high school students being overly emotional and dramatic. The phrase I've heard thrown around is "big feelings". It might be a stereotype, but Shades of Blue owns the emotions, harnesses them, and uses them to present something truly magical. This album is a must-add to your a cappella playlist. Take a listen and enjoy.

In my review of Brighter Days, Shades of Blue A Cappella's previous release, I noted how marked the group's improvement was from Courage. The sound had become much more consistent, and the musical foundation of the group had a real momentum to it that's uncommon in scholastic groups, let alone in high school groups. It was a tremendous accomplishment, and even included one of my favorite a cappella tracks that year. While First Light has retained a lot of the foundational musicality of Brighter Days, it has also taken a few steps back in album construction. There's still a lot to like about this album, especially on a track-by-track basis, but it's also unfortunately monotonous in a way that holds it back from being truly excellent.

Lighthouse kicks off the album in solid fashion. The first impression indicates that Shades of Blue has not lost its confident and consistent musical flow, and the group's blend is still tight and clean. That being said, the track is also a bit static — neither verse nor chorus drop off or falter much, but they also don't contrast or evolve in ways that motivate continued interest. The core harmonies also feel a bit more hollow than would be preferred, as if there are some middle voices that are missing. And while both soloists do solid jobs on their own, I could've used better chemistry in how they bounce off of each other.

From here, for some time, the tracks get marginally better one after the other. Anyone has a more grounded sound than Lighthouse while pushing dynamic contrast a bit further. Matthew Calahan's solo is also very strong and does a great job carrying the lead. Nothing Else Matters iterates on Anyone's improvements. I really like the background vocals' recurring instrumental motif and how it pushes the song forward. Sydney Driscoll's solo matches the caliber of Calahan's on the prior track, also becoming one of the best on the album. The piece broadens the dynamic and texture spectrum a bit more than Anyone, and while I can see the song being pushed even further, to me it is the highlight of First Light.

The core issues with the release don't appear new with the track First Light as much as they become gradually and passively apparent. Prior to this, we'd had slightly different variations of the now well-known "epic midtempo minor epic dissonance" genre of a cappella music. With each successive track, the variations diminish more and more. Thus, First Light isn't significantly worse than what came before it — it's just stagnated in progress, and doesn't bring in anything new. By this point in the album one has basically listened to the entire thing, and we're only four songs through. As I Am has a really beautiful set of background vocals, Anyone has a great soloist showing, and Live for Me is consistently solid, but that was as far as my note-taking would take me. It was difficult for me to even write notes for It'll Be Okay and Out of Love because nothing novel or noteworthy had come afterwards. GO ON WITHOUT ME is actually a welcome change of pace at the very end, being a gear shift in both texture and style of the song as well as having the novelty of being an excellent live recording. However, at this point I would ask why it took about five tracks to hit the next interesting album section.

Shades of Blue has leaned into that "epic mid-tempo minor epic dissonance" style of song for quite some time, and they do sing it quite well. I do wonder if there is either more to explore in this style, or if it is worth experimenting with other styles outside of this comfort zone. Either way, nine to ten songs with this little diversity is not the optimal way to construct an album, which is especially evident when many of these songs actually sound significantly better outside the context of this album.

Despite my qualms with the album's construction, First Light is still a consistently strong-sounding project. It overstays its welcome and leaves me wanting more risks taken, but solid fundamentals can go a long way and they do so here. I do hope Shades of Blue takes more risks in the future in order to further capitalize on these fundamentals.