I've never had my opinion of an album change so radically from my first listen to my actual review as I had with dIVisi , the fourth album from the University of Oregon's Divisi. I pretty much hated it the first time I listened to it, in large part because it epitomized so many things that I generally dislike in contemporary all-female a cappella: overdone songs, overly choral sounds, and bad syllables.

But on subsequent listens, I started to hear more nuance here: these arrangements add something new even to the most overdone songs. There are some incredible layers and echoes on Fallin' that create a sultry drama at the top of the song, and the panted/whispered harmony at the end certainly adds depth there as well. The arrangement for He Lives in You plays up the song's tribal roots and (thankfully!) downplays its musical theatre sound. Speaking of delivering outstanding arrangements, Divisi comes through in spades with Hey Eugene , blending long sustained notes with moving background parts and echoed words. It's one of the less well-known covers here, and Divisi does a lot to make it memorable. Most memorable of all, though, is Lindsay Varien's gorgeous solo on Colors .

dIVisi is not without some shaky moments, though. Carry On Wayward Son is a disappointing way to start the album; the first 40 seconds suffer from some awful syllables that never come close to conjuring the rawk of the Kansas original, which is a common problem for this song in the a cappella canon. The group turns it around with some gorgeous arranging tricks that pull the song into Divisi's sweet spot. They lose me again with the guitar solo. (Attention a cappella groups everywhere: you don't have to do a literal interpretation of a guitar solo. In fact, it's probably better if you don't, especially if your syllables are "diddle-iddle-iddle ah dah".) The syllables on Many the Miles are equally awkward, but the arrangement somehow manages to overcome the enunciation. Awkward syllables get more in the way on The Heart of the Matter , but the group's delivery of the off-kilter rhythms in the arrangement is commendable. There's so much precision in this group and in these songs that it becomes frustrating when certain artistic choices — usually syllables or choral sounds — get in the way.

And that brings me back to my opening comment: there was a lot on this album that I really didn't like when I first listened to it. The album grew on me — a lot — the more I listened, but it is still not without its obvious flaws. There's certainly a lot to listen to and dissect on dIVisi : is this a flawed album with moments of brilliance? Or a brilliant album with some debilitating flaws? Either way, it's certainly worth hearing.

On a separate note, Divisi could really stand to work on its album credits. We at RARB often harp on songwriter credits, and dIVisi is no different. Despite the liner note credits here, India.Arie was not the original artist for the song The Heart of the Matter ; Don Henley was, and the song was co-written by Henley, J.D. Souther, and Mike Campbell. When You Come Back Down is credited to Nickel Creek as the original artist, but Nickel Creek's version is a cover of a song by bluegrass musician Tim O'Brien and co-written by Danny O'Keefe. He Lives in You is credited in the album as "Adapted from The Lion King on Broadway", but there's no mention of the song's composer Lebohang Morake, a.k.a. "Lebo M".

More than just songwriter credits, though, the group has fallen short on almost all other credits on the album. While soloist and vocal percussion are credited for every song, there's no list of the singers who performed on this album. Arranging and recording credits are aggregated in the album thank-yous: "Recording, mixing, arranging + editing 'IV' would not have been possible without the efforts of Peter Hollens, Bill Hare, Ed Boyer, Plaid Productions, + Tom Anderson." If you want to know who arranged a particular track, you're out of luck. It's a severe disappointment, since there were several arrangements that truly impressed me, and I would've liked to have praised the arrangers specifically by name here. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do so this time, and I hope that Divisi will re-consider how to give credit in the future.