on 2010-06-14 matthewrecord Said:

Hey I wrote a review before checking to see if there already was one.

So, my take:


Everyone has a different threshold for what they're willing to accept with regards to the theatricality of their art. One person's soaring emotional climax is another's mawkish, groan-inducing eyeroll. With their second LP release Of Dreams Long Gone, Finnish roots-folk quintet Captain Cougar find themselves on the wrong side of the dramatic divide more often than I can allow and still recommend the album.
Of Dreams Long Gone is, for lack of a better term, a concept album that follows an unnamed husband and wife whose lives are upended by a brutal civil war and ultimately find themselves among the many who ended up in transplanted Norse communities in Minnesota. The story is told in a pleasingly straight-forward manner and the music deviates rarely. Captain Cougar has most certainly committed to their concept and none of the typical hallmarks of the aborted-halfway-in-making concept album are present. Additionally, Cougar avoids the usual pratfalls of making the story so obtuse that it becomes a hindrance.
The proceedings are lush and performed with particular aplomb. The production sheens with crystalline beauty and singer Eva Louhivuoris Amy Lee by way of Sarah McLachlan voice always transcends the mix clearly and beautiful
Despite that, though, the big problem with Of Dreams Long Gone is the execution, which is carried off beautifully but represents, what is for me, and I suspect many, a devastating stylistic choice made right from the outset. Of Dreams Long Gone sounds like it would be more comfortable as a backing soundtrack for a travelling Cirque Du Soleil company or Broadway musical than for a band of self-described roots-Americana acolytes.
Billy Lee Riley never had these kinds of production values.
I dont doubt Captain Cougars sincerity or the passion with which they relay their story, but everything from the swelling chimes and strings do the unbelievably on the nose lyrics lacks an subtext whatever. Take an example from Engagement Song: I will marry this man and I will be happy. / Still later on, Ill give birth to our son / Our lives well fulfill, we will be happy. So happy.
Methinks the lady doth protest too much. Whether this is meant to be a statement of fact or a dark foreshadowing of coming events is immaterial, it lacks nuance either way. For those who prefer the Ethel Merman (nee Evanescence), belt-it-out-for-the-back-rows ethos, than this album will likely come off as intended: a soulful, searching and dramatic telling of a hopeful love story. But for those who find the storytelling of the much more attenuated Hold Steady or The Decemberists a little too much to stomach, Of Dreams Long Gone may be an effort to avoid.

2.5/5
Not Rated