Album Review: HUNDRED DAYS (Original Cast Recording)

If you found out today that you only have a hundred days left to live, what would that mean? What would that change? Would you let that reality break you, or would it light some kind of fire inside?

Indie folk-rock duo (and married couple) Shaun & Abigail Bengson pose this question in Hundred Days, an exuberant hybrid of theatre, concert, and autobiography, adapted for the stage from their 2015 concept album of the same name. The results make for an unconventional but wholly stirring experience, captured here with palpable energy as a live audio recording produced by Ghostlight Records.

"Unconventional" can describe so much of the experience: from the show's structure defiantly refusing to define itself as any one thing; to the folk-punk score; to the Bengson's own love story that found them meeting, falling for each other and marrying in only three weeks. To say this isn't your typical musical is a tremendous understatement.


But power of this material is undeniable. The anecdotal passages offer a fragmented portrait of a relationship made stronger by ecstatic highs, crashing lows, and mining profundity out of the mundane. It's when the Bengsons sing and play, however, that Hundred Days takes ferocious hold.

The songs are drenched in folksy harmonies and propulsive, pulsing punk arrangements, varying dynamically in shade and colour. As performers, Shaun comes off as the more reserved of the pair in speech, with his passion spilling forth amply in song. Abigail's crackling presence and inimitable, unpredictable vocal power shine bright, especially in the haunting highlight Three Legged Dog, an exploration of grief rendered by Abigail as a relentless storm of yelps, wails, murmurs, and growls, with foreboding underscoring that grips.

The emotional heft of moments like these are amply balanced with passages of joy, no better exemplified than by the energizing title track or the show's finale What Else Can We Do?, which offers a spirited outro and an offering to live life to its brightest and fullest.

Hundred Days is a prime example of what makes live performance so special. It's a resonant reminder of our humanity and what makes it so precious, fleeting, exciting, horrible, and special. Match that with a gorgeous folk-punk score and two affable lead performers, and you have a listening journey that would be well worth spending time with in your last "hundred days."
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Hundred Days (Original Cast Recording) is available now from Ghostlight Records and on all streaming platforms.