I fear I may have jinxed myself in the opening to my review of Kol Sasson's 2022 album Vitality, in noting that I don't generally like to play on an album's title as a way into a review because it feels a little like a cop-out.

And yet, here I am doing it again.

Because while Kol Sasson named its latest album Tough Luck, I fear most of what I have to give the group is more like "tough love".

To know me is to know that I root a little bit extra for Jewish a cappella groups precisely because my own time spent singing in a number of them through the years. But while the group has avoided some of the pitfalls from its last effort, I sadly can't say the singers have taken a significant step forward. More like sideways.

First and foremost — and this is very much NOT an element that typically leads off a review of mine — I beg and plead with the vocal percussionists of Kol Sasson to calm down. The beats you can render and the beats you should are not always the same thing. More often than not, less is more. And the "more" offered here on quite a few of the boppier, funkier repertoire that the group seems to favor is not just extra, but it's actively detrimental to its efforts. To wit, the group opens the album with two songs that fundamentally live in a "four on the floor" groove, but that feel is utterly absent. Instead, we get an almost endless stream of subdivided beats, syncopations, and fills/flourishes that rob the material of the anchoring and establishing beat that hooks the listener. Variations on this flaw show up elsewhere as well, as in the very next song (Baby Why) where the typical snare on 2 & 4 is inexplicably and distractingly replaced with a variety of different sounds, none of which are as effective as a single, simpler choice would be.

As an extension of the unnecessary busy-ness and/or variation of the vp patterns, Kol Sasson's arrangers also could use their own lessons in "less is more" and leaving spaces in the backgrounds to let their work breathe a little. Sure, a lush, warm, slower tune might warrant the big block chords that the group favors as the underpinning of nearly every song. Yes, if a song has built to a climactic ending, then all of the various parts and ornamentations and bells and whistles may have a place in the rocking out of the final chorus(es). But so many of the uptempo songs the group chooses to cover have very defined, built-in rhythmic hooks and far too often, those hooks are either ignored, obscured, or utterly washed away by everything else going on in the arrangement. Not every moment needs a pad chord. Background voices can do hits in rhythmic unison without word echoes. Solos can even carry a few seconds without anything at all going on in the background. Don't be afraid of that nakedness (as it sounds like the group often is).

Lastly, I'm not quite sure if was a conscious choice or a budgetary reality or just less-than-stellar work, but where Liquid 5th has generally earned high marks from me in the past for its production work, it didn't seem like the folks on the other side of the glass were doing the group a ton of favors here. Of course, it's also entirely possible that the group consciously chose not to utilize all the tools of the trade that could have made the material that is originally more "electronic" sound that way. And while the solo work shades more than a little toward the pinched nasal and/or "back of the throat" tone, that's at least as much on the group and its Music Director as it is on the album's producer. But that doesn't explain why the balances between the backs and the solos are off at times; why the odd edit is quite noticeable now and again; and why small tuning and/or rhythmic anomalies here and there were able to make it through to the final product (points for authenticity, I suppose).

Not to end as I began with more wordplay, but "Kol Sasson" literally means "Voice of Joy" and I know — firsthand even, from hearing them live — that these students love making music. But especially when it comes to studio work, enthusiasm alone doesn't carry the day. There may indeed be some "tough luck" on their road to greatness and they still have a ways to go.

Tough Luck is the third album that I've had the pleasure of reviewing from the University of Maryland's premier Jewish a cappella group, Kol Sasson. In previous reviews, I've challenged the group to go deeper with arrangements, pay more attention to dynamics, and just provide more energy to each of their tracks. I was hopeful that this album would finally provide the step forward that I've been hoping for from the group. Unfortunately, with this album, it's more of the same critiques.

First, there's simply not enough attention being paid to the dynamic levels on many of the tracks. Troublemaker starts off far too loud from the start, and there's no decrescendo in the verses to allow either soloist Jackson Diaz or Sarah Blackman to step out and take the lead. By the time that we're at the final chorus, Diaz is completely drowned out and it's just a wall of sound, making it hard to isolate different parts. It's also hard to tell whether the main culprit is the arrangement full of held block chords or if the vowel choice (largely "ah"s) is the main cause of the problem, but that's really neither here nor there. Both issues are converging to lead to a very underwhelming opener to the album. Erase Me suffers from the same issues, although there is a little bit of dynamic contrast by the end of the track that gives it a little bit of life.

Along the same lines of dynamics, the background vocals on the vast majority of the tracks don't seem to have any energy or direction. It just sounds like notes that are being sung off the page, and that lack of energy is causing both the solos and vocal percussion (which was a bright spot for me on the album) to feel very unsupported and even the tracks to sounds flat. I don't think that the pitch is actually an issue on the album — but without a sense of direction and movement, the perception of pitch issues is quite noticeable. Now, I should note that not all of the tracks on the album have this problem — towards the end, both Saturday and Shachor V'Lavan have far more attention to energy and dynamics than anything in the first half of the album. But, in order to rate any future albums a higher score, there needs to be far more consistency throughout.

I can see the potential — the set list on Tough Luck is varied for all listeners, and there's no question that each of the members have immense talent. It's simply a matter of putting the pieces together and really paying attention to the details in order to deliver the best album possible. I hope that the next release will finally be that step in the right direction that I've been hoping for.

Yedid Nefesh is so good that I simply wonder why Kol Sasson doesn't record a full album in this song's style. Instead, Kol Sasson has found itself in a rut, recording tracks not suited to the group's strengths and not raising its own performance standards. On Vitality, I was impressed with how Kol Sasson gained a lot of energy and investment in expression compared to the previous record, even if it cost the group some consistency. Tough Luck regresses quite a bit in the former, while not regaining any of the latter.

Much of this comes down to song choice and how it relates to the soloists on those tracks. If you're going to cover so much pop/rock, the solos can't be so technically cautious and off-the-voice — they demand doubling down on expressiveness and fierceness. Instead, these solos lack the bite and grit that is expected with the style. Combining this approach with unfortunate key adjustments (which are usually placed where they are because of their difficulty, allowing some of that edge and power to emerge naturally) results in deflated substitutes of original songs, rather than engaging alternatives. Midnight Sky, Troublemaker, and the Love Me Again section of Mitgaga'at / Love Me Again are probably the biggest examples of this trend. By moving these songs into safer ranges, they lose a lot of what makes the originals engaging.

Blend and balancing issues are also more apparent on Tough Luck compared to previous records. The sopranos and mezzos are too loud in the mix, to the point where they often overpower the soloists in both volume and timbre. This top-heavy sound leads to a lot of ungrounded harmonies across the album where a solid foundation would result in a more stable feeling. While the upper voices are the most distracting, the group's blend in general seems unworked in too many spots. This is perhaps most noticeable on Erase Me, a song that demands quietly intense background vocals to draw heavy focus to the soloist's vulnerability. When best executed, a precise blend can almost create the effect of swallowing extraneous noise that detracts from that soloist. Instead, here, there are too many voices sticking out of the unit in too many instances, causing distraction and chaos.

And then there's Yedid Nefesh, the token Jewish liturgical piece for the album. Except, maybe it shouldn't be the token Jewish liturgical piece? Virtually none of the issues that I mentioned in the rest of the album are on this track. The blend is fantastic, the balance is right where it needs to be, and every feature melody line by the group is given a lot of attention. Credit is also due to the arrangers, Yona Levitt and Allyson Sweiderk, who adapted this song so well for the group's voices. What is stopping Kol Sasson from doubling down on these types of recordings?

I'm not saying that Kol Sasson must move in this direction, or that they can no longer cover pop/rock songs. Instead, I'm suggesting a more wholehearted commitment to whatever is being covered. That also means care around making changes that may hamper the original's effect, such as changing keys to be in more comfortable ranges. It also can mean spending extra time on the blend or balance on a song where those aspects are exposed far more. Whatever is expected to catch the listener's attention the most at any one time, that's always the first thing to hone.

While I didn't enjoy Tough Luck as much as Kol Sasson's last two projects, its high point is perhaps stronger than anything the group has done before, and it once again shows how good Kol Sasson albums can become. The group now has the option to either devote more time into what they're strong at already, or to strengthen what they prefer to sing more. Both options are valid, and the prospect of either (or both!) makes me look forward to the group's next album, as always.