The Crystal Project is a Hawkes Bay based musical collaboration blending pop, rock and folk music with a sneaky, yet well placed, cello.
This four-piece released their debut EP, Love’s Dark Ways at the end of October this year, and what a superb release it is.
As EP’s go, it is a very solid and genuine effort which features six tracks ranging from three minutes to over four minutes in length.
Love’s Dark Ways opens with the dark and brooding Morphine Adrenaline, which builds up from the space and emptiness of a plucked guitar chord and a voice, before building into a full-blown and dramatic maelstrom.
Acquaintance follows, and on this track the main singer’s voice is a half beat behind the beat of the mid-tempo indie rock inspired tune. It gives the song a real 90’s slacker vibe, fitting with well with its title and subject matter. The opening two lines from the chorus "Guess I'm just another acquaintance oh no... When did we become such strangers oh no..." sums it up nicely.
Celebration is the third track, and it features stunning female vocals in great style, there is more than a hint of training in the vocal work, from the strength to the vibrato. Lyrically, and musically this song has more than just a touch of goth about it and it's one of the more powerful tracks on this EP.
A Heart Away and High Tide wrap up this excellent debut EP; think goth tinged indie pop that also features a cello and you’re on the right track.
The Crystal Project is a Hawkes Bay based band playing a mixture of pop, rock and folk music. The band like to write songs that tell stories and create layered sounds with a focus emotion. The Crystal Project is releasing its first EP in October 2019 with a party at Valhalla in Wellington.