by Jackie Weseen
Alternative-rock band Jamboree’s sophomore album Life in the Dome is a delicate balance between hope, despair, melody, and broken chaos. Released on April 1 by House of Wonders Records, the album in its entirety is a melancholic delight.
Throughout the album, you get a flavour for the various influences Jamboree has cultivated and their creative expansiveness and ability to portray each song as having its own unique identity. The lyrics are raw and express a general sense of being pretty bummed out, and rightfully so. “The Birds Are Chirping” grants us a glimpse into the album’s overall concept: the idea of an entire city being confined under a dome-like structure.
The record begins with Jamboree’s first single, “The Snow,” which gives the listener a short, calm disposition and then quickly falls into a despairing guitar distorted scream—highlighting the confusion and frustration the lyrics contain. “The Snow ” represents one of the more musically and lyrically confrontational tracks on Life in the Dome. Concluding with the repeated request “Just get away from me” and slowly submerging into a cosmic array of guitar feedback.
Slowing down the pace with songs like “Walk” and “The Dome,” Jamboree manages to combine a lighter, airy guitar with an apathetic taste in the vocals and lyrics, complimenting each other quite nicely by weaving together a paradoxical sound of cheeriness and despair. “The Dome” conveys a more traditional pop song structure as a melodic lullaby is sung through the choruses.
“Quebec” and “Another Day” highlight possible influences of 1970s hard rock and late 1960s alternative rock, while “Be True” is pleasantly nostalgic of 1990s alternative rock. Swaying back and forth between an unassuming innocence and a hard-hitting guitar lick, “Quebec” is a definite headbanger. “Another Day” brings forth a more existential vibe reminiscent of The Velvet Underground & Nico’s “Venus in Furs.”
“Victoria” and “The Trees” continue a theme of opposites meshed delicately together. “Victoria” has gentleness sprinkled with a moment of chaotic and spacey feedback. “The Trees” is anthem-like and passionate but begins with vocals almost as quiet as a whisper.
The album ends with “Stop Moving,” a pleasantly dreamy acoustic song.
Jamboree’s Life in the Dome shares vulnerably with its listeners the depths, frustrations, and conundrums of life in mass isolation.