Chance & Choice - Things To Be Said At A Time That Will Never Come

Chance & Choice

Things To Be Said At A Time That Will Never Come
self-released; 2014

3.6 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Amado Gonzalez and Nick Chamberlain make up the group Chance & Choice. They met in college and played together in the church choir as well as a couple of other musical projects. Last December they released a full album’s worth of material entitled Things To Be Said At A Time That Will Never Come, which flirts with a number of different genres. At the heart of the album are pop songs, which revolve around traditional instrumentation like guitars, bass, keys and drums. 

The album was a DIY effort but luckily for the band Chamerlain went to school for sound technology. Suffice it to say that the album definitely sounds above average for a DIY effort. “Dedicatory Overture” is the first song on the album. It was far from the best song on the album but shows some innate talent. The guitars are atmospheric covered in reverb and delay as drums rely on army like snare work. 

Gonzalez sounds unapologetically young but has a solid singing voice. Some of his delivery does feel a bit forced and there were a couple notes he doesn’t quite nail.  “Knowledge (or lack thereof)” is a mix of country and classic rock. The level of intensity bears comparison to a band like Wilco. Its emphasis is put on the melody rather than rocking out hard. The band starts becoming musically ambitious with the dynamic “(the) Obvious.” 

It fluctuates between extremely light to crashing drums and distorted guitars. Lyrically, the song spews philosophy 101-type prose. He sings, “ And sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's hard / We state the obvious more often than not / Like how some things change / And some things they don't / Life's only constants are the things we don't know.”

As the album progresses Chamberlain and Gonzalez continue to open their wings and explore different territory. “Nobel fight” has old school ‘70s punk vibe while “Brother Moon (Me & You)” has background vocal harmonies that bring to mind 1950’s doo-wop. They even throw in a slice of spaghetti western into the mix with “Tawndelyn.”

They break out a couple of synths on closer ”St. Augustine,” which is the most nostalgic and reflective song on the album. Things To Be Said At A Time That Will Never Come is scattered in concept and I thought the vocal delivery was off at times but those were my only gripes with the album. Overall, they put together a solid batch of songs that were a treat to listen to. 

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