Amaluna Soundtrack by Cirque du Soleil - Chaotic Mess [*]

Album artwork of Amaluna (Source: Amazon.com).

I can't remember how many times I've said "The new Cirque du Soleil CD has been released", but given the frequency of the phrase in comparison to how much I say it for every other artist I follow, I don't think it's a good thing. Claiming to "surprise by means of the unexpected" (an egregious oxymoron if there ever was one), Amaluna is a bizarre offering from the company. Under the marketing gimmick of having the whole album performed by women, it contains music from the show from composers Bob & Bill (Guy Dubec and Marc Lessard) with new and inane lyrics, pedestrian mixing, and about a dozen compositions which are not particularly strong.

The album prides itself that it is influenced from heavy rock and that the score is played by a "vivacious all-girl band". Newsflash to everyone working in the marketing team - just because the band is comprised entirely of females doesn't mean that by the music is by default innovative or high quality. The vocalists on the CD featured on the CD are also women, and quite talented - Julie Andrea McInnes's sultry alto tone is a strong contrast to Marie-Michelle Faber's airy and lithe timbre, and they breeze through the little material they receive with great skill. The most prominent vocalist on the album is Jennifer Aubury who has a colourful and clear-cut voice - while it's nothing unique, her vocal performance is strong and she delivers her material perfectly adequately. In terms of the band, their performances are fine but there's not much room for improvisation or any specific showcasing of talent.

Despite any issues with the arrangement. 'All Come Together' ('Magic Ceremony 1' from Le Best of 2) is the flagship of the album, a dreamy piece which enforces the same melody over and over again for about 5 minutes (which concludes with a spectacularly superfluous up-tempo verse tacked on the end which no-one really needed to hear or cares about). 'Hope' is a melancholic and ethereal piece which descends into a strong, pulsating rock segment, although it feels like it finishes far too soon just when it's gaining momentum. The best track on the album is 'O Ma Ley'. It's a delight, being a playful and bright number focusing on percussive and electronic beats which is really catchy, actually having a bridge that doesn't depart from the style of the song, and has a complex time meter that I can't pick out. I also love the little piano ditty 'secret track' which plays at the end of 'Run'.

The trend of Cirque CDs lately have been to have a few good songs while the rest just die of their own irrelevance, so of course the usual filter rubbish is here. 'Fly Around' and 'Tempest' are a mélange of noisy drums, cello and twangy guitar, and 'Burn Me Up' is a generic angsty pop song, but then spits out this hilariously inappropriate jazz woodwind section. 'Mutations' features some skittering rhythms, every panning gimmick you can think of, and some schitzophrenic breathing (at one point someone actually moans "OUCH!" - I screamed in the middle of the computer labs). Other tracks really suffer because they don't seem to be confined to a specific genre, like 'Running on the Edge', 'Ena Fee Alyne' and 'Enchanted Runion' which amble around with a chaotic array of instruments, tempo and style, although despite this the entire score doesn't seem to have enough variation and distinction of sound.

The production quality of this album is pretty lousy. It's not mixed particularly well - while it's an electronic album the techniques such panning, reverb, and distortion are naturally in use, but are so frequently utilised it borders on the excessive. Despite claiming otherwise, the mixing doesn't resemble a heavy rock album because it's so dull. The drums are not prominent enough and the quality of the album is too polished, which removes the raw and powerful details that make other artists so invigorating. The compositions themselves are quite mediocre in that they seem to focus entirely on one melody and keep layering it without moving to a bridge, and for what is there the arrangement of the pieces sometimes leave a lot to be desired.

There are some amateur conclusions to pieces, a lot of focusing on build ups which lead to nothing while other verses feeling as though they need extending to develop movement. There are so many bizarre moments, like McInnes muttering "SI!" at the beginning of verses in 'Run'. There's also a few weird production screw ups (like someone left their mic on at the end of O Mi Lay and you can hear the drummer fixing their sticks). To me, the weirdest element of this album is the lyrics. In the production, the lyrics are all performed in the imaginary Cirquish language. On this album, they're performed with (very clichéd and contrived) English lyrics - if this was what the composers originally wanted, why not perform the show's songs in English and then create the album in English, or vis-versa? The lyrics themselves are mundane and seem tacky since the rhymes are too convenient (one example, "I'm not a liar - I want the fire" or something like that).

The album is better that some of Cirque's recent offerings, but it is the weakest score that Bob & Bill have composed for Cirque du Soleil, and that's disappointing since Totem was a promising beginning and Les Chemins Invisbles had some excellent pieces. Despite its few strong moments, Amaluna is a short fall from the "guitar-oriented electronic anthem" style it claimed to create. It's a chaotic mess, a pedestrian production of a very mediocre score.

Cirque du Soleil 'Amaluna' is available November 19th from their online boutqiue and on Amazon.com. Available on physical CD and digital download. Preview the entire album for free on Cirque du Soleil's Amaluna official website.

Cirque du Soleil unveils Amaluna

While I knew the newest Cirque du Soleil show was going to be called Amaluna (the name was trademarked last October), it was still a thrill for the show to be announced last Monday. Amaluna by Cirque du Soleil will open this April under the direction of Diane Paulus, and will revolve around the themes of femininity.

Amaluna director Diane Paulus.

Amalauna (a word which amalgams the Latin word for mother 'Ama' and the general word for moon 'Luna') is loosely based on Shakespeare's The Tempest, in addition to drawing upon influences of. The titular location is an exotic island which is inhabited by the powerful sorceress Prospera (played by the fabulous Julie Andrea McInnes), who has invited the goddesses of the world to join with her in a ceremony which will celebrate her daughter's ascension to womanhood. The ceremony involves Prospera conjuring a gargantuan tempest, which coincidentally ensnares a passing ship in the ocean's currents and causes it to crash on the island. It's love at first sight when a handsome young sailor among the crew falls head-over-heels in love with Prospera's daughter, who returns his affections. Once the couple surrender to their emotions and conquer their obstacles, the inhabitants of the island led by Prospera hold a celebration for their love and her daughter's rise to womanhood.

I didn't really handle it well when I first heard the vague briefing back in August. When I first heard the theme was revolving around women power and to be based on The Tempest, I was pretty distressed. It was around August last year (the same day I saw Sarah Winter's incredible Scratch piece) I spent a good hour clawing at my face and walked around the rest of the afternoon with my fists clenched - when I ran into David Berthold he tried to shake my hand and I had to refuse since I said my hands were all sweaty. He probably thought I'd been masturbating or something. Anyway, my initial reaction has pretty much totally faded away and I am confident this is going to be a fantastic production.

A rendering of the Amaluna set design from Scott Pask.

Diane Paulus has an impressive resume track record of working in real theatre. Some of her most notable pieces in her career include the 2009 revival of Hair, which was awarded the Tony for Best Musical Revival, and last year she directed Canadian Opera's new production of The Magic Flute.  She has most recently risen to public attention through her controversial adaptation of Porgy and Bess, which opened in New York earlier this month. Although the production is provoking mixed reactions, I am thrilled that Cirque has made the choice to employ a director who is not afraid to take bold decisions and directions, to hopefully break them out of their formulaic and lacklustre era. Paulus' random approach might blow up in their face, but she is not some random choreographer, a defunct clown, or a figure who has no association with theatre. She is a qualified, experienced theatre director. Because of Paulus' leadership, in addition to her husband Randy Weiner seving as a dramaturge, this work will focus on the theatrical elements of Cirque du Soleil. Interestingly, Paulus and Weiner staged a rock opera adaptation of The Tempest a few years back (Cirque's website neglects to mention this anywhere in their theatre credits). I was a little put out that the concept wasn't entirely original, but I'm a fan of creative development, and hopefully Paulus will draw upon the successes and failures of their last production to ensure that this one works.

The rest of the creation team generally sound quite promising. World renowned and long-term collaborator Debra Brown returns to work her magic on choreography, and Mérédith Caron returns to Cirque for a second time after Believe in 2009 to work with her magic on costumes. Tony award winner Scott Pask is working on the set design, which looks amazing with the utilization of plants and other foliage to decorate and transform the chapiteau. Originally to be led by French-Canadian world vocalist Nitza Melas, the creators I'm most uneasy on is the return of Bob and Bill. The Canadian duo are composers who have worked for Cirque on several projects, including being the composers on Robert Lepage's 2010 production of Totem. Their music is fine and appropriate but lacks the power and grandeur of previous Cirque scores. Hopefully they will really utilize their fantastic singers and pump out some great anthems for this show - this sneak peek of the material at Cirque Week 2011 sounds promising, although the promo on the official website sounds like it was written for Ruben Guthrie.

Acts that are billed to appear so far are Aerial Hoops (featuring Cirque veteran Marie-Michelle Faber), High Bar, Aerial Straps, and a new dicipline will join Cirque when Lara Jacobs from Rigolo Nouveau Cirque will perform her Rigolos Sanddorn Balance act.

What excites me most about Amaluna is that it will most likely return Cirque to its real roots. Not their tacky original image of circus driven by people who perform tricks, but their amalgam of avant-garde theatrical elements with incredible acrobatic feats. It's very early to make any real calls on the quality of Amaluna, but the website launch and press release earlier this week are good signs. The aesthetic on the website is gorgeous. The combination of colours rarely gets pulled off properly since pink and blue are usually hideous, but it seems to be used in appropriate proportions here to make a really interesting, contrasting design.

Despite what most audiences think, merely performing a sequence of tricks does not warrant a good Cirque du Soleil act. Although almost all the acts within the show are technically proficient, in terms of its value as a theatrical work most of Cirque du Soleil's recent offerings have been severely lacking. Hopefully under Paulus' direction Cirque will be able to reconnect with the image that distinguished them as an entertainment empire of the highest quality.

I'm really hoping that this production will be excellent. The synopsis and premise sounds whimsical, the show will have phenomenal artists appearing in it and the creation is being handled by people who are experienced in creating theatre. I'm hoping that the show won't flop like Zarkana, which looked fantastic then tried to shit on New York (which thankfully saw through it). I guess we'll have to wait for the show's premier in April.

Amaluna by Cirque du Soleil opens in Montreal on April 19th. Tickets range from $40 to $139.50. Book by visiting Cirque du Soleil's official website or by calling 1-800-450-1480.