Band Name- The Project
Genre- Indie
Rock
Band Members-
Rhys Waite- Bass Guitar
Michael Illingworth - Rhythm Guitar, Lead Vocals
Josh Woolnough- Drums
Jack Fitch- Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
Location- Clacton & Colchester
During the summer of 2011, there was a huge amount of new
bands popping up all over Essex trying to make a name for themselves, one of
there being ‘The Project’. A band that blends two guitars, a bassist, a drummer,
and unique vocals that give this band a tonne of distinction and substance.
Following several gigs throughout Essex and Suffolk this progressive Indie rock
band drove four original songs from their heads and delivered an E.P to the
public titled ‘Pretty People and Pianos’. Having only heard this band play live less
than a handful of times, just like every growing musician in the area, I was
eager to give their E.P a listen to see what they’ve got.
On this four track E.P you are embraced by a thick sound
that is very much distinctive to the style that I feel this band is trying to
achieve. With heavily distorted guitars, quite a thick sounding bass and very
prominent drums, each of these songs sound exactly how you would have expected
them to judging on the covers they play at live gigs. However, even though all
these songs start off differently, they do sound fairly similar when they get
into it. That is not necessarily a bad thing; however after I’d listened to the
first song entitled ‘Play on Your Brain’ I was hoping to hear another side of
the project as opposed to the normal distorted sound and this wasn’t delivered.
Even though they throw in a few breakdown parts in a few of the songs, I
couldn’t help but feel that each track was a bit samey with several unique
twists.
I ran through this E.P in the order it’s found on their
Soundcloud page and the first song that was brought to my ears is titled ‘Play
on your brain’. This song begins with a loud intro which delivers a great
balance of drums and guitar, until the second guitar comes in with just a tinge
too much distortion for my preference. Regardless I do really like the chord
progression that this band has gone with, and after that huge 45 seconds of
distorted playing I am introduced to this great verse part, which begins with
dense bass line that compliments the deep vocals of the singer brilliantly as
well as the stripped down drums. This is then joined by a guitar which builds
up into this massive chorus which was made for the husky shouting of the
vocalist.
There is one part of this song that I especially enjoyed and
that was the breakdown part following the second chorus. This part has a great
guitar riff, a great sound to it, and a few issues with the synchronisation of
the guitars but we can put this down to lack of experience. As much as I like
it though, I have no idea why it isn’t a completely different song all
together. I personally don’t think it works as a breakdown part, and my advice
would be to take this part and work with it to create something new. Never the
less, I feel that the lyrics get across the message that the song is trying to
deliver and I could happily listen to that track again and again.
I’ll now move swiftly onto the second track which quite
smoothly is named the same as the E.P ‘Pretty people and Pianos’, a little bit
like ‘Black Sabbaths’ album ‘Black Sabbath’ which featured the song ‘Black
Sabbath’. Except the project haven’t gone quite that extreme. Besides that, let’s
move onto what I think about the song.
To begin with, nice simple riff to bring the song in with a drum beat
that isn’t too complex and over powering.
Again I’ll mention how the heaviness and dense texture of this song
compliments the vocalists voice, he almost sounds like he’s been singing for 30
years with that impressive husk in his larynx. We’ll then mosey onto the pre-chorus
part which I think could have been so much stronger. I say this because; what I
should be hearing is a build up of the chords into a massive chorus, but all I
am hearing is a chord progression which is decreasing and therefore to me this
isn’t how I would imagine it to be.
The chorus I’ve actually grown into, even though the words
are repetitive, and most of the best songs are written this way, it’s catchy. I’ve
even grown into the part when he attempts to fit extra words in the third line,
good attempt, sort of works, could have flowed better. Once again my favourite
part of the song is definitely the breakdown section with the awesomely
effective bass solo which I really wish was a bit louder to stand out more. With a bit more practice and a longer slot to
solo, who knows what this bassist might do in a few years, could even rival the
greatest bass solos of Billy Sheehan. Regardless of what I do or don’t like, I
have no idea where the lyrical inspiration has developed from for the chorus.
From what I can gather about the song it’s about a struggle with or the stalking
of a woman, and at a guess possibly in a room with pianos? Alas, still a good
indie subject for a song with a relatively random chorus.
‘Leathered up Dancing Queen’ is the slowest track on the
four track E.P which incorporates a classic slow strumming pattern with some
nice lyrical rhyming which is maintained throughout all verse parts of the
song. Whilst listening to this song though, I did have to question myself of
the origin of where the lead vocalist hails from because if he is not from up
north, he has definitely developed a northern accent whilst saying the word ‘Up’
in the chorus. Even though it’s one of my niggles when a singer changes their
accent during a song, and even I do it, it seems to work for this band. A
feature that may have developed from influential mainstreamers that the band
listens to? There isn’t much else I can say about this song, I think it’s got
some real style and people will need to repeat listen to it to understand it.
This time my favourite part definitely comes at the end with a sped up chorus, which
really gives a great finale to the song and shows off the bands inventiveness
and composition skills.
The final song titled ‘I’m on a Roll’ proves how inventive
this band can be. For example: the end of the chorus disperses with a hard
snarebang and then the line “I’m on a Roll”. Give it a listen to see what I
mean. I’ve pretty much discovered that this is one of those songs that gives
you an earworm. You just can’t get the words out of your head, which is the making
of a clever song. One quarrel though,
again I want more bass! Maybe because I’m a bass addict, but it’s what I feel
the song needs. Whether it’s additional effects, volume, or tone I just want
that bit extra.
I’m quite impressed with this product even though I have
mixed thoughts about some of the songs. Parts of them I feel are incredibly professional
and some parts really need some tweaking to make them the top songs that I feel
this band could achieve. As much as I feel that this band could go far I really
hope they develop their style a lot more and introduce harmonies and vocal
melodies to give all their songs the edge over rival bands in the area. Overall
‘The Project’ are a band I would recommend to the majority of you reading this,
however if you’re not a fan of husky vocals and thick distortion then you may
want to listen with caution!
Finished 20/03/2012 - ACH Music Reviews.
