This unexpected project consists of friends old and new. Neal Morse and Nick D’Virgilio are founding members of the 1990s progressive rock outfit Spock’s Beard, while Ross Jennings is a founding and current member of the progressive metal band Haken. Their collaboration as well as the style they are representing on the Troika album came a bit out of the blue, even for some of the involved musicians.
It was Neal Morse’s idea. He has become a man of many projects, which in addition to solo albums under his own name includes Transatlantic, Flying Colors, the Neal Morse Band, and many others. These are mostly electric, progressive, and often hard-edged. The desire to do something different gave birth to the idea of creating an album of acoustic-based songs based around vocal harmonies and melodies.
Morse’s first thought was to reach out to former bandmate D’Virgilio, whom he gave a call sometime late 2020. When asked if he would be interested in doing a singer-songwriter, Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN)-type vocal-inspired record, D’Virgilio said yes right away.
This was always going to be a trio-based project, modelled after CSN. Morse and D’Virgilio discussed several candidates, and both of them felt that Jennings would be a great choice for the third voice. Jennings got the surprise email from Morse before the end of the year, and as a long-time Spock’s Beard fan he was delighted to be asked. It was a bit of a leap of faith for Morse/D’Virgilio, as they primarily knew of him in Haken and his prog metal leanings. They were hoping he would fit into a more acoustic set-up, not aware that he was already working on a solo project very much in that direction as a huge fan of vocal harmonies. They were also unaware of his talents on guitar and as a songwriter, initially tapping him for his vocal qualities alone. The surprise was a positive one, and Jennings ended up contributing on all fronts.
After a period of songwriting and initial recordings (all done remotely), it was finally announced in September 2021 that D’Virgilio, Morse and Jennings were writing an album together that would be called Troika and released in early 2022.
The album’s first single Julia was released 21 December 2021, alongside the announcement of the album’s release date on 25 February 2022.
A video for Julia was posted on InsideOutTV’s YouTube channel (InsideOut being Sony Music’s Prog label) by early January 2022. This is how I first found out about this project, making Julia my DMJ introduction.
As I saw the video, I recognized Nick D’Virgilio first, who I still primarily think of as the drummer/vocalist with Big Big Train. Then I spotted Neal Morse, which confused me. Was this some sort of Spock’s Beard offshoot? Then Ross Jennings appeared, whom I know I had seen before but it took a while to realize who it was. They sounded amazing. This was a track of incredible harmonic qualities and a melody of sweet, intensely beauty, yet with a strong melancholic twist.
The same could be said for the lyrics that went along with it, which are describing a situation of heartbreak and alienation leading to the main character walking out of her relationship. The verses describe her pain in the third person, while the choruses are sung from the direct perspective of the husband pleading for forgiveness and a chance for them to get back to what they once had. The song catches them in the middle of Julia walking out, and rather than being a story it provides a snapshot of where they are at that point, including thoughts of what brought them there.
Julia smile with a tear in her eye
As she’s walking away from her dream
Proving her heart’s growing fonder than time and space intervene
Julia moves as they open the gate
Now she turns to walk out of his life
Losing her mind all alone in the aisle of the outbound flight
This is a pretty heavy subject matter for a song, setting the album up as containing stories and reflections on real things and things that matter.
Jennings contributed Julia, initially thinking of where his two partners had come from. “It was funny that the music I wrote was paying homage to Spock’s Beard,” Jennings told Classic Rock, “and the stuff that they were writing was moving away from that. So, in the end, there is that reference to their work but it came from a fan.”
The original demo was an 8-minute epic when it was first brought in. Morse rewrote it into something more concise in keeping with the vibe they were going for on the album (although it still goes past the six-minute mark). Some versions of the CD features the full, 8-track original version as a bonus track.
Please forgive me, my sweet Julia
Ocean winds blow hard upon the land
Please forgive me, my sweet Julia
I never thought you’d fully understand
But I thought I’d still be your man
The album itself opens with Everything I Am, written by Morse during a morning when his wife was having a bad day. Out of that situation came a sweet song about how no matter what happens our lives are fully intertwined no matter what.
This song is probably as happy as the song Julia is sad, showing that each song is its own microcosm in terms of vibe, feeling, and content. Troika is not a sad album nor a happy album. It is an album containing many songs of many different moods and emotions.
The song is a delight vocally, as is the entire album. It has strong shades of CSN with a nod to classic Yes melody structure, but with a contemporary sensibility. Being prog rock musicians also means they have an exceptional ear for song arrangements, and while this album is meant to be simpler, it never gets so simple that it is boring. It’s in the small details – add an extra bridge here, add a harmonic flourish there. It all sounds very straightforward, much because they want it to sound that way. The detail is there for us to enjoy if we want to.
You Set My Soul On Fire is a D’Virgilio composition. Picked as the third single, it has a more stripped back arrangement. It is a direct and sweet song, every bit the expression of love and appreciation that the title indicates. D’Virgilio starts singing it on his own, leading to an expected but very effective lift as the others come in on the second verse.
As a contrast, One Time Less is an example of a song with more of a band expression, containing several acoustic guitars, electric slide harmonics, bass, drums, and keyboards. The song still has a predominantly acoustic expression and fits well on the album. The harmonies are well arranged, with several interweaving parts that reveal their progressive roots. As much as this song would fit on country radio, in the context of the songs that surround it on the album it ends up feeling very much like a rock song given its fuller band treatment.
The band treatment is present on Another Trip Around the Sun as well, which starts out (and largely continues to feel like) an up-tempo, straightforward, acoustic-based song. As it goes on it gets a bit more scope and gets more interesting, especially vocally.
Towards the end of the track, the trio pulls a five-part choral fugue out of their hat. My jaw just dropped to the floor the first time I heard it – just incredible! Definite shades of Gentle Giant there, for sure.
One of the definite highlights on the album is A Change Is Gonna Come. This takes the shape of a classic protest/hope song, and given everything that is wrong with the world, perhaps we need more of these type of songs right now. This very much feels like the right song at the right time.
As a project that is musically inspired by the 1960s/70s vocal groups such as CSN, it also makes a ton of sense for DMJ to pick up the mantle that groups like CSN of that ilk stood for. Back in the 1960s/70s artists frequently campaigned, got involved in social issues, and wrote songs of hope and protest that people could rally behind. A Change Is Gonna Come is very much part of the old folk tradition which runs like a red thread through the catalogue of people like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Neil Young – and CSN.
In addition to providing a more hopeful view, the song is incredibly strong musically, with a simple and direct melody that benefits especially from the vocal harmonies, which are shining particularly strong here.
The first part of the song consists of a basic acoustic guitar with solid harmonizing by the trio. The vocals are powerful, and the song benefits from a very timeless feel which works well as far as placing it into the tradition it comes from.
The band comes in halfway through, giving the song more emphasis and power. A particularly lovely mid-section features complex layers of harmonies, singing “things are gonna be better – better – better – better”, and it almost makes you believe that it will. Towards the end, the song goes back to its basic message, singing the chorus lines out very clearly.
This is a very powerful track – without question an album highlight in every sense.
Stranger days I’ve never seen
Broken families and shattered dreams
Lyin’ leaders at the top
Sometimes it seems like it’s never gonna stop
A change is gonna come
So just keep on keepin’ on until the day is done
And a change has got to be
And even though it don’t seem so I believe eventually
A change is gonna come
If I Could is a basic acoustic guitar track where the addition of percussive elements gives it a bit of a drive. The full band comes in at the halfway point, which is where the song comes alive. It features less harmonies than the rest of the album, which makes it all that more noticeable when they all come in for the choruses. Less vocal harmonies and less melodic quality overall does make it feel a bit lacking on this particular collection of songs.
Jennings contributed the excellent King For A Day, which grew out of his blues rock influences and provides a somewhat heavier moment on the album, even featuring electric guitars and wailing guitar solo parts! While it’s hardly the rock explosion this might imply, there is an intensity and urgency in the vocal passages during the intro (but otherwise, too) that sets the tone as much as the electric guitar that enters the fray after. Another favourite for sure.
The Morse composition Second Hand Sons is another energetic track, added to the album at the last minute to provide a further counterpoint to the acoustic tranquillity. It features slinky guitar licks, some semi-progressive tendencies, and the vocals in the choruses have a distinct Styx flavour. As it works its way into the guitar solo section there is little about it that indicates that this comes from a largely acoustic-based collection of songs, although the harmonies are incredible on this track, and that is more than enough for me. Without question the heaviest track on the album, which is really letting its hair down at this point.
My Guardian provides some of the same energy, with electric rhythm guitars and a full rock band sound, although this track manages to maintain the acoustic element to a much larger degree than the two songs preceding it. It’s a well-arranged and interesting song, containing several very proggy sections (which is cool to hear in a semi-acoustic format). Lyrically, Morse’s faith gets some focus, and as someone of a different persuasion I find them well written.
The question begs itself, though: why are the electric moments collected together towards the end of the album? I very much feel that the listening experience would benefit from mixing it up more, providing more light and shade and changing up the moods a bit more. If I had to point to an album shortcoming, it would be the organisation of the track list. In the age of vinyl I could have seen them name one side “acoustic side” and the other one “electric side”, which would have worked thematically but lead to the same inconsistent listening experience.
In any case, there is nothing wrong with the choice of final track. The album ends perfectly with What You Leave Behind. The album should (and does) end with a song based around a lone acoustic guitar backing the three voices, leaving things on a naked and poignant note. Several vocal layers show up at various points in the song, but it remains a naked arrangement – the lone acoustic guitar and the voices. The core inspiration behind the project. It sounds so strong that they could have leaned on this on even more songs, but the album has a solid variation that in the end works well.
Troika is the album I did not expect to appear. It is also an album I did not expect to pick up, and I certainly did not expect to play it over and over from start to finish. But here we are. This is simply speaking an incredibly enjoyable release. As a sucker for vocal harmonies and a fan of both the involved artists as well as the artists they name as inspirations, this album delivers on every front. Vocal groups were plentiful back in the day, but less and less so. I am delighted that this project has come along and put an emphasis on this again, giving us a modern take on that style.
The danger is however clear: this is obviously a side project for everyone involved, and we can probably only expect so much more to happen as far as future DMJ activity. Fortunately, everybody involved have said they loved doing this and are enthused with the results. Hopefully enough of us feel the same way and will support the release, making another album a possibility in the future. It would be a real shame if this release is it. This project is simply too good to stop now.
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