Haven: Viewing the Concept Album Through the Classical Lens

Abstract

This research project analyzes the album Haven by Canadian pop-rock band Marianas Trench and compares it to the seminal song cycles of Franz Schubert, Winterreise and Die schöne Müllerin, as well as those of Robert Schumann, Dichterliebe and Frauenliebe und Leben. Haven is a concept album that is based on the hero’s journey framework outlined in Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Josh Ramsay, the lead singer of the group, crafted his hero’s journey by drawing on his own life experiences. The songs on the album represent different plot points from Campbell’s framework, telling a cohesive story over the course of the album. Ramsay utilized a variety of musical and poetic devices to tell this story, many of which can be found throughout Schubert and Schumann’s cycles as well. The comparison of these pieces shows the possibilities of utilizing popular music in university music curriculum. Haven can be utilized as a modern example of the German Romantic song cycle, providing students with music from a genre that is more relevant to modern life. It can also stand alone, exemplifying compositional practices in modern popular music and leading to a broader range of topics in curriculum