There has been an overload of news about the music industry in recent months, from Taylor Swift winning another Grammy and announcing her new album “The Tortured Poets Department,” to the release of the popular musical and animated TV series “Hazbin Hotel.” However, nothing has felt bigger to me than the release of Epic’s new album “The Circe Saga,” which was written by Jorge Rivera-Herrans and released on Feb. 14.
“Epic the Concept Musical” is a musical based off of “The Odyssey”, an epic originally told by the Greek poet Homer. “The Odyssey” is not written chronologically, but rather organized into 24 books that act like chapters. The first four books describe the kingdom of Ithaca and what has happened since Odysseus’ departure, while the next four books introduce Odysseus as he is leaving captivity on Calypso’s island and continuing on his journey home. The additional four books show Odysseus tell the story of his various encounters with the monsters on the journey before his captivity with Calypso. The final books, which spans the second half of the poem, shows Odysseus reuniting with his son and wife in Ithaca and Odysseus removing the hundreds of suitors that tried to get married to Odysseus’ wife, Penelope.
The music of each saga is impeccable. You can tell just how much work goes into each one, and every character has specific instruments or music that they are associated with. For example, Odysseus is always backed by a guitar that changes depending on the context and Circe is backed by a string ensemble and melodies, like in the French opera “Carmen’. I love how these instruments and sounds help to shape the characters and tell the story.
The lyrics are also able to add to the incredible quality of the musical. They help to not only be able to tell the story of “The Odyssey,” but also the story of each character. Zeus portrays this quality by not acknowledging Odysseus and his crew for the first verse of the song which alludes at how he is an imposing character.
Much of the music is also inspired by video games. These electronic elements and grander music makes “The Odyssey” have a modern feel which we would not have seen if there was classical music. I enjoy each of Rivera-Herrans’ music choices because it makes the musical more intriguing and adds to the story in different ways.
While I love each of the other sagas, “The Circe Saga” has topped them all. “The Circe Saga” follows Odysseus and his crew as they land on Circe’s island. The saga has a total of four songs which are, “Puppeteer,” “Wouldn’t You Like,” “Done For” and “There Are Other Ways.” In this saga Odysseus has to figure out a way to escape Circe and save his men who have been turned into pigs. He is able to get help from the messenger of the gods, Hermes. All of the songs in the saga have an upbeat feel with catchy lyrics that had me jamming along the entire time. My favorite out of all of them is “Wouldn’t You Like,” with the best vocals out of all the other songs. Troy Doherty brings a playfulness to Hermes that we do not get to see in many of the characters. The energy he brings to the song makes the rest of the saga have an increased quality and is overall the best song of the saga.
“The Circe Saga” was certainly a joy to listen to. Every song was a masterpiece. It may have been a long wait before it was finally released, but the wait was worth it. I am eager for the next saga to come out and the story to continue.
