By the time the COVID-19 pandemic officially went global in 2020,
Chris A. Cummings
had something like a dozen albums and EPs under his belt between his projects
Mantler
and
Marker Starling
. As part of the pandemic's fallout,
Cummings
lost his day job of some 20 years and, now in his fifties, was left floundering without a backup plan. For the first time, he turned to music full-time, and founded
Cici Arthur
with two other regulars on the Toronto music scene, singer/songwriter/producer
Joseph Shabason
(
DIANA
,
Destroyer
) and indie/jazz musician
Thom Gill
, both prior collaborators. Together, they looked to the lush, romantic sound of mid-century artists like of
Frank Sinatra
Antonio Carlos Jobim
for
's notably melancholy debut album,
Way Through
. Recording sessions in November 2023 not only included a 30-piece orchestra helmed by none other than
Owen Pallett
but contributions from drummer
Phil Melanson
Sam Gendel
Andy Shauf
) and vocalists
Nicholas Krgovich
Dorothea Paas
, among others. Sounding something like the offspring of "Moon River" and "The Windmills of Your Mind,"
offers eight wistful and disappointed songs, beginning with a title track that repeatedly asks, "What good are dead ends when I'm looking for a way through?" These lyrics are framed over gentle piano, mallet percussion, cross-sticked snare, and eventual elegant horns and backing vocals. A big key modulation two-thirds of the way through lands on the lines "When the miracle you'd hope for never comes, it's hard to take/And the miracle that comes is not the one for which your heart was breaking." The rest of
mostly continues in kind, with lovely, dramatic arrangements, poignant lyrics, and a sorrow that only lifts for moments of hope more than actual satisfaction ("All So Incredible," "Stolen Joy"), or for adjusted expectations ("Cartwheels for Coins"). One possible exception is the relatively uplifting "Damaged Goods," whose filmic lyrics encourage holding out for "the part that you want to play" ("Strike out for the song that you want to sing"). While taken together, the material might have played a bit too maudlin in less proficient hands, the accompaniment is superb, and
has just the right voice for the part: rich, warm, and fragile, with doe eyes implied. ~ Marcy Donelson