By Ben Palmer
I found myself sitting and staring at the macabre and dark cover art of Assistant Principal Dr. Dignam’s new album “Electric Magick & Acoustic Alchemie” and a thought popped into my head.
“My god!” I said to myself, “I guess it is possible to be in public education administration and have hardcore music interests!”
All sarcasm aside: whoa! I’m not one for heavy metal, and I’m sure there’s a more specific name for this genre of music, so call me ignorant. But I can appreciate musical talent when I hear it and I can say with certainty that were CPS ever to shut down (but how could that happen when it is run so well?) Dr. Dignam would have no problem making it on the hardcore concert scene.
Dignam is an educator, yet somehow manages to capture the essence of young rock in his songs. Maybe spending all this time around teen hormones has kept his musical flame fertile. And my, is he fertile! His music, that is.
Take the first track on the album, “Shaman’s Tree.” You’ve got an ambiguously hardcore (or ethnic) title, an intro including whispering and electricity, and some intense electric guitar playing throughout. Kiss? Def Leopard? No. Assistant Principal Dr. Christopher Dignam, of course!
I keep poking fun at his career and how it almost completely conflicts with his hobby of music-making. Let it be noted that this is because his skills on both ends are phenomenal, contrasting one-another perfectly.
In short, this man is cool.
Continuing down the track list, listeners eventually reach “Never Enough” which is the first vocal track on the CD. Erik Martinez provides smooth, if not somewhat violent, vocals to contrast the sharpness of the track’s rock core.
The song is almost “teen angsty” in it’s use of multi-track recording of one voice, but being an angsty teen, I hardly mind.
The next track “Element Earth” immediately stuck out to me as comfortably familiar. I realized the echo of the guitar’s sweet chords were almost identical to the tune of some background music in a video game. Again, being a teenager, I found this to be more a plus than a minus.
“Jimmy Page” is no doubt a shout out to the guitar legend, of Led Zeppelin fame. The track is oddly entrancing, starting with just any old acoustic guitar (my instrument of choice in listening). It’s about time Dignam got to the “Acoustic” in his title!
In regards to the title, I’m never in favor of spelling anything in old-English, be it “Sweet Shoppe” or “Electric Magick and Acoustic Alchemie.” Unless you are a witch, an elf in a tree, or Shakespeare, my advice is shy away from adding silent letters where they’re not necessary.
But the music, man! It’s all about the music. And this old-world, witchcrafty sort of vileness was a theme throughout the album.
Speaking of music, “Il Silenzio Elettrico” and “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” are prime pieces of rock. They are to Dignam’s guitar abilities as a Dave & Busters Guitar Hero machine is to an 8th grader’s mastery of the plastic axe. Full Combo for Dr. Dignam!
My favorite songs on the album are any in which Martinez serenades listeners. His singing in “Call Out Your Name” combined with the soft-er-core guitar made the track almost sound country! Which is, in my opinion, not a bad thing.
Martinez and Dignam have a sound to which I can’t quite find the correct comparison. Maybe if Thelma & Louise were to pick up guitars, and be men, and actually exist, and not be accomplices in murder in a movie, their partnership would be the likes of that of Martinez and Dignam.
The CD closes out perfectly as the last track, “Angel With A Broken Wing,” features Martinez’s lamenting vocals. The song ends the loud gritty album on a soft note, being the kind of song to which I’d be comfortable lulling into sleep.
On the whole, I’ve learned from this musical listening experience. Sitting and staring at an album cover of a goth angel clinging to a dying woman in what seems to be an abandoned church, I was initially hesitant. But after listening to each song, I was into the music and enjoying myself.
I’m secretly happy that I was given this CD so I could burn it on my computer because otherwise, I’d be buying it myself.
For only $9.99 on iTunes, it’s worth it. It’s worth it if you like the genre, or are willing to try some more intense rock. And it’s worth it even to just hear what happens when you give an Assistant Principal a guitar, some angst, and a recording studio. The result is worth it, without a doubt.
