The C Sides Project - 10 Days (2018)

C Sides are a progressive rock band, based in South Wales. '10 Days' is their third album, which has a release date of 26th October, 2018. The new album has the added talents of Sian Elson on vocals and Kevin Dawson on Keyboards. The new album is based on Nellie Bly's, pen name for Elizabeth Cochran Seaman, 10 days in a New York mental institution, Blackwell Island, where she worked as an undercover reporter during the late 1800s. The album is cleverly constructed from sounds and melodies that provide colour and texture within the songs. Moreover, the songs are driven by compound time signatures that punctuate the melodies adding definition to the arrangements. 10 Days is definitely a move in the right direction for The CSides Project.

The C-Sides were formed in 2007 by Magenta band members Martin Rosser (guitars, keyboards, voices), Allan Mason-Jones (drums, percussion) and Dan Fry (bass, voices). Taking a modern rock element and weaving it with the classic early 1970's Rush sound, they made the C-Sides (aka The C Sides Project).

The music industry is a strange business and it is ultimately music lovers who triumph over the machine. The internet has liberated music from the grip of the record industry and this has made it possible for those of us passionate about our chosen genera to find the sounds we love amidst the plethora of plastic pop being peddled by commercial radio. A thorough search on the internet, Band Camp, Reverb Nation or other similar platform will often be rewarded with great new music. This is because there are many bands you would be unlikely to ever here on commercial radio. These bands play the kind of music that they are passionate about, not for the money, but for the love of playing good, honest and well-crafted music. The C-Sides Project is such a band.

Members of the C-Sides Project have come of age, and their musical journey has culminated in a coming together of musical minds. Their innovative form of progressive rock nods to the classic prog bands of the 1970’s – Rush, Yes, Genesis, while at the same time finding new and surprising ways of using rhythm and melody to create a kaleidoscope of sound that is all their own. This quintet of seriously competent musicians is able to tell wondrous stories in music and lyrics that transports the imagination to wherever they will take you. Their writing is totally fresh and imaginative with every new recording seeing the band’s style develop in new and ever expanding forms.

Each band members brings something new and exciting to the mix. The vocals have depth, range and emotion, and all songs have a completeness which is largely down to well written lyrics. The guitar work is fluid, accurate and creative, capturing the mood of the lyrics by providing rhythm and melody in exactly the right places. The superb drumming drives the sound, adding definition to the arrangements and delighting the ear with in-song changes to time signature and tempo. Bass guitar completes the rhythm section and compliments the music, providing contrapuntal melody lines within the arrangements while at the same time adding depth and girth to the overall sound. Keyboard parts are competently handled and provide colour and texture within the songs for extra impact.