Chocolate Genius Inc.
Swansongs
There are lots of shiny things, intriguing shades and little tricks around the fringes of the latest batch of bedraggled soul-blues from gravel-voiced Marc Anthony Thompson’s Chocolate Genius Inc., but eventually Swansongs succumbs under the weight of its mournful tone and desolate stories. The song cycle plays out as a series of good-byes delivered dense and raw with Thompson intimate at the center of everything in intensely personal ways. There are moments of wrenching emotion like the cathartic piano ballad “Sit and Spin” which was finished the day his father died, and opener “Until She Smiles” sweeps listeners up as it flows past. Yet even as Thompson speaks of showing his soul everywhere he goes on “How I Write My Songs” the track sounds insufficiently sincere as it devolves into light rock territory, complete with maudlin sax solo outro. “When I Lay You Down” follows its title in unsurprising ways, but even as the songs don’t all carry the same level of emotion, Thompson’s skill as a producer and sound designer is clearly present. Faint atmospheric strings hang around appropriate edges, and sounds move around the room to emphasize the moods he’s trying to create. Swansongs is certainly not a go to album for those in need of cheering up, but when Thompson is at his best, he provides an excellent unembellished tour of galvanized emotions.
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