Five years after the release of their critically acclaimed debut, Australian group The Third Ending are back with a vengeance, and an intriguing take on a prog-rock album release. Beginning in March, the band have been releasing a new track on the third of each month – a timetable which will culminate with a full album release toward the end of 2012.
The new material retains the canny songwriting chops which distinguished the first album, but brings with it a more intense, guitar-centric approach.
“There’s certainly been a bit less for me to do in terms of keyboards – thankfully I can sing as well!” says Nick Storr, lead singer and keyboard player. “We’ve tended to use textural guitars and harmony vocals to sit in the sonic space that the keyboards occupied on the first album, so the goal is for it to sound just as textured and sophisticated, if not more – but just a bit more organic.”
Released last week, The Third Ending’s third single is titled Belong to Me, and is the most musically relaxed of the songs released to date. Lyrically though, it touches on some darker, more personal themes. Drummer and primary lyricist for this track, Andrew Knott explains ”I think people will read into lyrics what they want to, and I like lyrics that can be applicable to many people’s lives regardless of what the songwriter was thinking at the time, but for me this is a song about addiction, in all it’s guises. Just how all-consumed we as humans can get into certain things, and sometimes lose sight of the effect it is having on the people we love around us. The very things we’re trying to use to feel more connected can end up driving us apart… it’s kind of an inverted love song. But, like all things T3E, the song was written with a large contribution from the other guys in the band, so I’m sure it ends up meaning different things to them as well”
“I think the fans of our earlier stuff will really enjoy this track too, it’s got a bit more of the flavours of the first album in it than the previous tracks we’ve released so far. We’re growing up, and changing, but we’re still well aware where we’ve come from and I think it’s reflected in this track especially.”
So will there be an actual CD in the future? “It’s a brave new world out there for artists, and we wanted to try something a bit different this time. But we certainly plan to have a physical CD at the end of this release process, with plenty of extra goodies” explains Nick.
As part of the promotion T3E are also inviting fans to be part of their upcoming June release by recording their own backing vocals and submitting them online.
The Third Ending’s new music and details of how you can sing back up for the next T3E single can be found at the band’s website: www.thethirdending.com