When Dreams End is the sort of album title that makes you think, well, okay, this isn’t going to be a cheerful ride. Chris St. John’s When Dreams End is more, however than just a reflective and heartbreaking group of songs. The Nashville-based singer/songwriter’s second album is as entertaining of a musical experience as what you will hear from anyone recording in Music City today. He’s drafted some of the best session musicians available today to help bring the album’s eight tracks to life and they pull it off without ever going overboard once. It is an effort that showcases the present as much as the past and that balance between a contemporary and traditional voice is another one of Chris St. John’s core strengths.
Melody is one of the biggest reasons why these songs work so well. The opener “Lost Without Your Love” focuses on its simple and heartfelt melody from the beginning with only minimal instrumental accompaniment providing color. Guitar carries the melody and remains prevalent throughout the album’s entirety. As fine as a first song as this is, the album doesn’t really reach its potential until the second track, “Oh Papa”.
The personal investment in the vocal is clear. It’s this added quality of something at stake, namely St. John’s peace of mind, that helps elevate the track. Another aspect of the song expanding its dimensions is the first real instance of orchestration on the album and it gives “Oh Papa” a dramatic depth it might have lacked otherwise. The welcoming timbre of St. John’s voice sweetens the song’s otherwise fraught lyrics without ever cheapening the track’s emotional content.
It’s the story with a lot of this release. St. John’s vocals are a mitigating force on the downcast sentiments in tracks such as the title song and others. “What’s Wrong with Me” has a folksy spin overlaid with modern pop affectations such as keyboards but those touches are slight. The emphasis, by far, is on traditional instrumentation complimenting the vocalists. There are loose backing vocals supporting St. John’s voice during the course of the album and “What’s Wrong with Me” is one of the better examples of him working with a second singer.
Steady and measured drumming punctuates the title song. The centerpiece, however, remains the interplay between St. John’s James Taylor-ish delivery and the guitar, but it never draws an undue amount of attention. There’s an added poetic polish present in the title cut that isn’t as pronounced in earlier tracks. “Her Name Was Lily” has several distinguishing elements and the chorus certainly rates among the collection’s highlights.
It’s likely one of the album’s strongest performances, as well, thanks to its melodic virtues and how St. John draws from personal experience for this song. His experiences layer the song with empathy that it wouldn’t otherwise possess. Chris St. John’s When Dreams End excels as few collections do when it works best, and its wayward points are far from enough to justify shunning this release. St. John’s third collection is his best yet and shows no signs of slowing down.
Chadwick Easton