UConn's Extreme Measures provides a 2-for-1 Daniel Caesar cover special with Shot My Baby / Please Do Not Lean. While the transition between songs and overall listening experience are quite smooth, the group doesn't quite take enough risks to endeavor excellence.

Backup choir vocals, prominent solo voices, and well-voiced chords are rife throughout both songs. The six-minute journey crafted by arrangers MK Stewart and Eric Venables is lovely, smooth, and natural. The vocal dexterity from soloist Mal Tatum on Please Do Not Lean is on full display, showing adept and stylistically tasteful embellishment towards the end of the track. There is a full vocabulary of chord choices throughout both songs as well, not the least of which are the pivot chords that connect the two songs seamlessly. As a matter of fact, very little is out of place. Both casual and highly-discerning listeners will draw a great deal of delight from this solid two-pack.

That said, covering songs originally performed with instruments and a written choral background creates added challenges. Utilizing the a cappella medium to delineate texture changes between instrument drops and backup choir requires more clear arranging choices. Furthermore, using tension and release to build an intentional journey becomes even more difficult. Extreme Measures does not do this poorly, but bringing both dynamic and tempo changes closer to the median and utilizing fewer dissonances in major points of arrival in later choruses take away from the overall impact. Ends of solo phrases in Shot My Baby lose some power and commitment in ways that distract from unified vocal expression.

Quibbles aside, Extreme Measures' release is highly repeatable for its aurally pleasing tone and is certainly worth any listener's time and attention.