Album Review // Colette Bone and Seann Clark (Feat. Dom DeCecco and Frank Marzano) // Forevermore

Self-released

3.75/5 stars

A dark back-and-forth filled with evocative storytelling and musical explorations, Forevermore is an album to be reckoned with. Built upon a longtime collaboration between singer/keyboardist Colette Bone, singer/guitarist Seann Clark, and strings player Dom DeCecco, several tracks originally recorded in 2016 with Tavon Markov were revisited. Joined by guitarist Frank Marzano, violist Abby Barrett, vocalist Shelly Peeso, guitarist Jesse Tomczak, and multi-instrumentalist Josh Karickhoff, the band added new parts and even new songs to the original offering. The outcome is a bluesy, searing narrative that the listener can construct, the interplay between the two singers often having a theatrical effect (perhaps most evident on "Blood that Stains"). Clark explained that "Colette and I wanted to take the songs that we had written and put them in a 'lower east-side bar at two in the morning' kind of feel." Even from just a few notes in, it's absolutely clear that they achieved that with resounding success. At the album's most tender moments like the album's titular track, there's a solemn wisdom, like the advice given by someone who's gone through hell and back. Clark noted that they "wanted to dive into the low dark overtones of loss, love, hurt, and especially death." Clark's tone itself is lowered, using an acoustic baritone guitar tuned down a fourth to B. Coinciding with this release is the companion piece Live at the Barn, containing intimate performances of songs from Forevermore.