Review Summary: Grand Piano and Einar's vocals... is that enough?
On February 20th 2022, Einar Solberg performed Leprous’
The Congregation in its entirety. This event was witnessed by thousands of fans across the globe in the corresponding live-stream (in addition to those lucky enough to be there in person). On paper, it might seem like a stripped-down version of one of Leprous’ most eclectic albums wouldn’t work, but it mostly does in small doses. While the original was dominated by twitchy rhythms, moody atmospheres, explosive dynamics, busy percussion, and Einar’s soaring vocal acrobatics, this version is simply Einar Solberg and his grand piano. The unfortunate truth is that, while good, a solo Einar simply can’t fill all the gaps this stripped down version contains.
In the promotion for the live stream, Einar admitted that
The Congregation is probably the Leprous album least suited for an acoustic performance. While a compelling argument could be made that none of the Leprous releases are really suited for a stripped down rendition, I see his point.
The Congregation was dominated by twitchy rhythms, moody atmospheres, explosive dynamics, busy percussion, and Einar’s soaring vocal acrobatics and unexpected harsh interludes – without all of that, what is left? Really, the only elements left are Einar’s soaring vocals and the moody atmospheres; everything else has been replaced with sparse piano melodies. If there is one real gripe I have with this album it is that the piano only rarely manages to provide anything interesting. I would have liked to have seen Einar attempt to recreate (to the extent possible) the musical portion of
The Congregation with just piano melodies. Instead, the piano performance is minimal, mostly just providing an underlying foundation for Einar’s vocals; rarely recreating any of the musical themes or melodies of the original songs. This places the weight of the entire performance on the voice of Einar. Of course, if you’re a fan of his singing, you already know that his vocals are enough to carry even the most standard of songs, and in this intimate setting, he is able to deliver the fear, sadness, and melancholy of
The Congregation unabated. This is generally enough to make each track a compelling listen, but not nearly enough to carry the entire album. Unfortunately, as a whole,
The Congregation Acoustic's lethargic pace and uniformity is too much for one sitting, and that is its ultimate undoing.
I can see how experiencing this performance in a live setting would be entertaining. It would have been awesome to sit in that performance hall and feel the piano notes vibrate through you while catching the full acoustics of the room. Even watching the stream improved the experience significantly because you can see how much Einar is truly putting into the performance, and it’s hard to not start to feel the same thing. On its own, however, the music of
The Congregation Acoustic is only compelling in short bursts, and simply can’t carry an entire release. Overall,
The Congregation Acoustic is worth checking out, but do so in chunks and at a time when you don’t have anything to distract you.
