More about: Projector

Brighton trio PROJECTOR’s debut EP How Does It Feel was an unorthodox take on grunge and garage rock; refreshing given that their hometown is often seen as being oversaturated by the genre.

Their new sophomore effort ZERO was recorded last summer, whilst the band were isolating in the South Downs at Agricultural Audio Studios, allowing for the perfect environment to forge experimentalism and abrasiveness into their sound—which is obvious from the first few seconds of the EP.

The title track, with its whirring riff, sets the tone of this curious and dark record, with muffled vocals and production that’s far more post-punk, noisy and fuzzed out than they’ve ever sounded before. Their debut is but a far cry from this.

The tone is pulled back slightly on ‘Someone Calling’, which sort of transports you back to the heyday of '80s post-punk, showing that PROJECTOR aren’t about following the trend of every spoken word punk band that’s seemingly cropped up in the past year or so. ‘Same Dream’ offers a bit of a (probably consciously) repetitive buffer before closing track ‘Feels Like Something’, seeing front woman Lucy Sheehan take front and centre with her poignant, ethereal vocal, as a multitude of layered sonics feel like they’re overflowing and going to spill over at any moment with sheer velocity and pathos. 

The pop sensibilities of the final track really hit the sweet spot, and their capability here is something they should be doing more of, given that it sounds so good and they did it so much on their debut. But for the most part, it’s always so much more interesting when you’re not trying to sound like everyone else.

ZERO is out now.

More about: Projector