Hawaii: Part II

Hawaii: Part II
Studio Album
Released	2012
Length	45:27
Label	n/a
Producer	Ross Federman, Joe Hawley, Bora Karaca

Hawaii: Part II is an album by ミラクルミュージカル and was released independently on 12/12/12, at 12:12:12 A.M. Four members of Tally Hall appear on this album: Joe Hawley, Ross Federman, Rob Cantor, and Zubin Sedghi. Bora Karaca also appears. The album is categorised under "World" music on iTunes, however the whole album shifts between genres, including pop, rap, and ballads.

Guest and supporting artists include Lindsey Alvarez, Ryan Brady, Joel J. Dahl, Madi Diaz, Allison Hanna, Gregory James Jenkins, Charlene Kaye, Stephanie Koenig, Andrew Kurtz, Shane Maux, Adrianne Nigg, Ashlee Renee, Stephan Wunderlich.

On May 19th, 2014, an album of demos, outtakes, and instrumentals of Hawaii: Part II was digitally released through bandcamp, entitled: Hawaii: Part II: Part ii.

On December 31st, 2015, ミラクルミュージカル released Hawaii Partii, an album of instrumental 8-bit style chiptunes based on Hawaii: Part II

On September 18th, 2018 a kickstarter was launched in an attempt to get the album pressed to vinyl. On October 18th, exactly a month later, the campaign reached its goal, as 456 backers pledged $16,544 of it's $7000 goal.

Conception

In an interview with local access show 'band.', Joe talks about his love for musicals, and recalls:

"When our family went to Hawaii in the summer of 1997, I heard this music in my mind and I knew I had to make it at some point"

He goes on to talk about how he didn't know what to call this musical project, or for it to be about himself.

Production And Recording

On 12th December 2017, 5 years after Hawaii: Part II was released, Ross Federman made a post on his facebook page talking about the album's conception and recording process:

"Today marks the five year anniversary of an album that I worked very hard on and am frankly quite proud of. Hawaii: Part II was the vision of Joe Hawley and the product of countless other musicians, singers, arrangers, and writers. Joe Hawley, Bora Karaca and I coordinated the recording, production, and mixing of this album which was no small feat. Having more than 30 artists, many recording parts on their own and submitting individual vocal or instrumental tracks, pushed our organizational skills to their limits. It is also noteworthy that I did not see Joe or Bora face-to-face throughout any of this process. My personal goal in this was to help create a record with “a life of its own.” I’ve always felt that some of the best albums never sound quite the same to you, even after countless listens. I feel as if the album is continuing to grow while it rests idly on the shelf (or your hard drive, or somewhere in the cloud) and that every listen through is a little window into its current time. Of course it’s the listener growing and changing, but I think it takes a certain kind of record to track along with its listener in this way. I set out to fill this album with as much emotion and vitality as I could from my humble remote mixing station. In the end, I feel that we did create an album with a life of its own and one that speaks for itself. Week after week, it continues to find new homes in the ears of eager discoverers, despite a total lack of promotion. It’s certainly not normal, and it’s probably like nothing you’ve ever heard, but it is still very much alive to this day. I can’t thank the rest of the Miracle Musical team, and Joe and Bora enough for the work that went into this. Happy fifth Birthday Hawaii: Part II."

- Ross Federman, Facebook

When asked, on the 2018 Reddit AMA, about the process of collaborating with so many people remotely, Bora answered: "It was magical because it was my first time doing something like that. People who would happen to be in town in Los Angeles would just swing by, pop in, and put their little piece in. This is now the way I want to do things, personally!"
- Bora Karaca

Track listing

#	Title	Writers	Lead Singers	Duration
1.	"Introduction To The Snow"	Hawley	Hawley, Ashley Renee	1:41
2.	"Isle Unto Thyself"	Hawley	Hawley	3:47
3.	"Black Rainbows"	Federman, Hawley	Madi Diaz, Hawley	2:30
4.	"White Ball"	Hawley, Karaca, Sedghi	Sedghi, Stephanie Koenig	3:35
5.	"Murders"	Hawley	Hawley	3:43
6.	"Space Station Level 7 (宇宙ステーションのレベル7)"	Hawley, Karaca	Karaca	3:23
7.	"The Mind Electric"	Hawley	Hawley	6:13
8.	"Labyrinth"	Hawley, Shane Maux, Charlene Kaye	Shane Maux, Charlene Kaye	2:33
9.	"Time Machine"	Cantor, Hawley	Cantor, Hawley	4:12
10.	"Stranded Lullaby"	Hawley, Allison Hanna	Hawley	3:43
11.	"Dream Sweet In Sea Major"	Hawley, Karaca, Allison Hanna	Hawley	7:00

Bonus Track listing

#	Title	Writers	Lead Singers	Duration
0.	"Variations On A Cloud"	Cantor, Hawley	Cantor, Hawley	3:10

Leitmotifs

In accordance with the album's presentation as a pseudo-musical, the album contains multiple instances of lyrics and melodies being repeated and reused in different songs.

Leitmotifs

Song Name	Samples used
Introduction To The Snow	The entire song, save for the instrumental intro, is repeated at the beginning of 'Dream Sweet in Sea Major' though most of the lyrics are changed.
Isle Unto Thyself	The melody of the bridges is the same as used in the post-chorus of 'Variations on a Cloud'.
Black Rainbows	The line "And lo the hues arrange to show it's perfectly clear" reappears in 'Dream Sweet in Sea Major', though the melody is different.
White Ball	None.
Murders	The Melody of the bridge also appears in the third verse of 'Variations on a Cloud' with altered lyrics.
宇宙ステーションのレベル7	The bridge shares it's melody and most of it's lyrics with the first bridge of 'Dream Sweet in Sea Major', though the final line, "Lance-toi et tu vivras toujours ce soir" translates to "You'll live forever tonight", the final line of 'Introduction to the Snow'.
The Mind Electric	Supposedly there's a sample of the piano line in 'Murders' and a reference to 'Labyrinth' but I haven't found them myself.
Labyrinth	None.
Time Machine	None.
Stranded Lullaby	None.
Dream Sweet In Sea Major	The songs opening is near identical to Introduction to the Snow, though the song ditches the piano introduction and instead begins at the start of the vocals; most of the lyrics are also changed. The pizzicato line that plays (with some variation) through the songs second movement is the same melody as the refrain in 'Variations on a Cloud' (though sped up and maybe with a different time signature?). The first bridge shares it's melody and half of it's lyrics with '宇宙ステーションのレベル7'. The line "And lo the hues arrange to show it's perfectly clear" is repeated from 'Black Rainbows'. Finally, the first verse of the final movement carries the same melody as the piano that began the album.
Variations On A Cloud	The melody of the third verse is the same as the bridge in 'Murders', The post chorus has the same melody as the bridge from 'Isle Unto Thyself' and the refrain is a slower version of the melody used for the pizzicato line in 'Dream Sweet in Sea Major'. The final section of the song also shares the melody and lyrics (with slight variations) of Ruler Of Everything.

External Links

https://www.hawaiipartii.com