THE LEAP

To start off, I should send a personal apology to the artist because it has taken me more time than usual to post a review on this album after his request. There are three reasons for this: 1) the postal service, 2) personal events and 3) wanting to give the album a fair review after several listenings. It's combined complexity and pop style is to be admired, but not always to my taste.

After releasing 3 albums in 2018, we finally have a release (in 2020) from Victor Go, a multi-instrumentalist from Ukraine. Victor has been involved with other Ukrainian artists, including the founder of "Modern Rock Ensemble". On this new album named "The Leap", Victor uses his compositional and instrumental skills to compose a semi-thematic album with some complex, yet very pop sounding tracks. It is not an easy task to accomplish, yet he shows off his talent in these two areas which results in some nicely, bright tracks.

In contrast to his earlier album "Going for the Sense", this time he also includes his own vocals on most of the tracks. This is where this album falters as his vocal production here is enhanced by electronic effects, and this results in a starchy sound that really affects the overall quality of the album. The vocals sound very nasally, fake and almost completely without emotion. This is quite unfortunate because the composition of the tracks is quite good.

The album tracks are organized by beginning with what would be considered a major track and then following this up with a track that are more like an "intermezzo". The rest of the album follows in this pattern. Two suites are broken up throughout the album, one titled "2020" and the other one titled "Pilot", and these tracks that make up the suites are actually the intermediate tracks that lie between the major, longer tracks.

Personally, I find the shorter, instrumental tracks to be more enjoyable than the tracks that are supposed to be the more important tracks mostly because of the vocals. Another reviewer suggested using other vocalists to sing and I would have to agree with this. Either that or return to the more instrumental style of "Going for the Sense". The vocals leave a lot to be desired, and actually drag the album down.

However, the longer tracks still manage to have some nice instrumental breaks in them and that is what keeps me listening. For example, in "Tension", there is some nice piano and synthesizer work, and in "Once Again", there is some nice heavy guitar sound in there that give the tracks some nice variety.

Once the album is finished, even after multiple listenings, it seems to be difficult to find anything that stands out, however. The nice musical passages sound great while you are listening, but in the end, the listener can be left feeling unfulfilled as there is nothing really memorable. I believe the artist is on the right track here as is evidenced in his compositional skill and his instrumental work. But, it would be better to have un-enhanced vocals done by other vocalists with a lot more dynamic in the overall album. When all is said and done, I can't help but agree with what most of the other reviewers have felt about the album.