Project 1.9
Broken Images
Boston, MA
www.onepointninemusic.com
For such a young band, Project 1.9 displays a maturity that isn’t often found nowadays. The lyrics in Broken Images aren’t self-absorbed or shrill, the sound stays positive, and the vocals, provided by Ross Hopman’s smoky voice, are triumphant rather than self-pitying. In fact it’s refreshing to find a band that can gear it’s frustration and confusion with the world into music rather than loud mayhem.
The interesting part of the album is that there is a very clear progression in sound and purpose. Oscillating between wise acceptance and personal struggle, the band realizes our imperfection as human beings but doesn’t quite know how to focus or control the feelings in the first few tracks. Ordinary World exhibits lyrics such as, “Your sense of reasoning your ordinary world/Guess what it don’t mean shit if you’re standing still too long,” and a sound that is a bit heavier and funky. But through the album a maturation transitions the band towards a more introspective and halcyon direction .
Twisted, my favorite track on the album, is the pinnacle of this new turn. “And as I look back now on the mistakes that I’ve made/Certain people left behind certain people soon would fade.” It’s like watching your best friend go through an ugly breakup with uncontrolled rage before he or she finally calms down, clears their thoughts and ratiocinates. Fortress declares this new, calmer revelation and submission. “I won’t tell no one if you put your trust in me/Cuz I’m relying on your sensitivity.
The band for all intents and purposes is a pop outfit that is able to incorporate fresh sounds into their hook-laden songs . This in turn allows them to transcend the bland crap that they could have easily limited themselves to becoming. This is never more apparent than with the cool bass riff in Twisted or on the last track Borderline which emphatically concludes an album that introduces to the music world a band with potential and a future well beyond its first 10 tracks.