Draft:Hawaii: Part II

Hawaii: Part II is the only studio album by the group Miracle Musical (Japanese: ミラクルミュージカル), a sub-project of various former members of American rock band Tally Hall. It was independently released as a concept album on December 12, 2012. Telling a death-themed love story, it received favorable reviews.

Background
When Joe Hawley went to Hawaii with his family in the summer of 1997, he became motivated to create Hawaii: Part II, stating "I heard this music in my mind and I knew I had to make it at some point". Hawley later described it as a "once-in-a-lifetime musical", citing the September 11 attacks as inspiration. Soon after the sudden hiatus of Tally Hall in August of 2011, former co-lead vocalist Hawley started a side project titled Miracle Musical (Japanese: ミラクルミュージカル) to create Hawaii: Part II. He formed the project alongside Ross Federman, Tally Hall's drummer, and Bora Karaca, a session musician and producer associated with the band. During the production of the album, the three never met in person, and additional personnel independently recorded their performances and submitted them to Hawley and Karaca. Included on the album are "Murders", "The Mind Electric", and "Time Machine". These are older songs written by Tally Hall, later re-recorded for the album. Each was intended to appear on Good & Evil, but was held back for favorability or budgetary issues.

Release
On September 11, 2012, "Variations on a Cloud" was surprise-released as a single by Rob Cantor and Joe Hawley under the pseudonym Miracle Musical. Following this, a countdown was revealed to anticipate the release of Hawaii: Part II at 12:12 PM on December 12, 2012. In 2014, Miracle Musical released Hawaii: Part II: Part ii, an album featuring instrumentals, demos, and samples. Later in the year, a cover of "Candle on the Water" was additionally published. An album of six chiptune renditions titled Hawaii Partii released on December 31, 2015, as the soundtrack for the promotional game Labyrinth. On September 18, 2018, a one-month Kickstarter campaign was launched to fund the first vinyl pressing of the album, ultimately earning $16,544 of its $7,000 goal from 456 pledgers.

Reception
Hawaii: Part II has received positive reception in online publications. Talon Boudreaux of The Paper Wolf complimented the album's orchestral and vocal performances, comparing the composition of "White Ball" to Frank Sinatra and highlighting "The Mind Electric". A similar review was given by Grant Hinders of SHS Today, extensively praising Hawaii: Part II as a prominent example of juxtapositioning newer production methods and techniques with older styles and additionally highlighting "The Mind Electric". Ace Richards of KP Times enjoyed the progression of the album's story, describing it as "extremely well crafted and creative", while Matteo Sohn of Maroon likened this to a favorable use of open interpretation to draw listeners in. Hawaii: Part II has since gained a cult following, amassing over a third of a billion on-demand Spotify streams. Several songs from the album, such as "Murders" and "The Mind Electric", achieved popularity on TikTok and other social media.

Personnel
Miracle Musical
 * Joe Hawley – lead vocals (1–3, 5, 7, 9–12), electric guitar (2, 4, 7, 11), acoustic guitar (2, 6, 11), ukulele (3), additional mixing (7), harmonica (9), piano, production, drum programming (all tracks), cover artwork, art direction and design
 * Ross Federman – drums, drum engineering (2, 4, 7), drum programming, production, mixing (all tracks)
 * Bora Karaca – additional vocals (2, 3, 7, 11, 12), bağlama (3), accordion, castanets (4), bass guitar (5, 6, 10), electric guitar (5, 8), piano programming (5), lead vocals (6), vocoded electric guitar (9), whistling, production, recording engineer (all tracks), cover artwork

Technical


 * Roman Vail – mastering engineer
 * Benjamin Collins – drum engineering (2, 4, 7)
 * Joachim Horsley – conductor
 * Dan Durda – cover artwork
 * Susan Holloway – cover artwork

Additional musicians


 * Cyndi Lynott – french horn (1)
 * Andrew Kurtz – additional vocals (2)
 * Ashley Renee – additional vocals (2)
 * Ryan Brady – bass guitar (2, 4, 7), moog (3, 7)
 * Madi Diaz – lead vocals (3)
 * Nik Frank-Lehrer – additional vocals (3)
 * Andrew Laurich – additional vocals (3)
 * Ryan Scott – additional vocals (3)
 * Zubin Sedghi – lead vocals (4)
 * Stephanie Koenig – lead vocals (4), additional vocals (6, 7, 11)
 * Jay Golden – violin (4, 5)
 * Alyson Montez – violin (4, 5)
 * Adrianne Nigg – additional vocals (6, 7)
 * Joe J. Dahl – additional vocals (7)
 * Shane Maux – lead vocals (8)
 * Charlene Kaye – lead vocals (8)
 * Rob Cantor – lead vocals (9, 12), vocoder programming (9), acoustic guitar (12)
 * Allison Hanna – additional vocals (10)
 * Gregory James Jenkins – additional vocals (11, 12)
 * Lindsey Alvarez – additional vocals (12)
 * Stephanie Wunderlich – additional vocals (12)