VoicePlay – Once Upon An Ever After

Often times it is difficult to understand what makes a band special, why people like them or how they manage to garner such acclaim or amass a huge fan base. With VoicePlay, it is so very easy to see why they are beguiling. It is their musicianship…or rather paradoxically their lack of it. VoicePlay are a band whose sole instrumentation are their own voices. As a modern day barber shop quartet, they produce all their own music vocally, performing harmonies, bass and rhythm section without any actual instruments. It really is amazing to watch and to listen to.

Their current album is a mixture of pop hits and Disney songs and vocally (when singing) they have a tone and quality very similar to 90s boy band *NSync and it is evident that they have an adeptness at moulding and shaping a song to fit their vocal styling. They have an uncanny ability to make a medley of a whole movies worth of songs –  a brilliant example of this being The King Has Returned which showcases songs from The Lion King. Meanwhile, Tale As Old As Time displays songs from Beauty and the Beast and includes a rather interesting rap section.

Sadly, it is their main attraction which will also make them appeal to a very niche audience; they do not fit in with contemporary popular music and a lot of this is due to their penchant for classic Disney. It would be interesting to hear the band do modern songs, arranging them to fit into their street corner style. If they were to produce their own music, songs that are their own rather than cover versions it is dubious as to whether it would still have the same charm. However, I would love to be proven wrong.

This album is definitely worth a listen, not only for fans of Disney but also for those interested in how music doesn’t have to be all bells and whistles. Sometimes the greatest instrument is the voice alone.

thevoiceplay.com