5th Projekt – “The Wrong Way” (Single Review)

Jenna Melanson·January 12, 2023

5th Projekt 1

5th Projekt journeys between chaos and control with their new single, “The Wrong Way,” inspired by The Camino

“The Wrong Way,” the second single from Toronto-based 5th PROJEKT’s upcoming EP, The Wolf, arrived in advance of the album’s release on March 7th, 2023, via their own independent label, Organik Rekords.

Bordering on experimental art pop, the female-fronted genre-bending band draws inspiration from surf rock, drum and bass, and metal on this avant-garde adventure that conjures visions of video games.

Multi-instrumentalist, Sködt McNalty, combines layers of lush, hypnotic fretboard-tapped acoustic guitar and fuzz bass with frantically distressed tremolo guitar, monophonic analog synth, precarious pounding drums, and percussion to create intricate syncopated melodies that are held together by the soaring vocal hooks and harmonies of Tara Rice.

The process of creating this song was one of order from chaos – an echoing of life, trying to make sense of the world that we’re born into. In the tradition of Chaos Magick, the music was composed using the cut-up technique popularized by William S. Burroughs, where three different versions of this song were cut up and pasted into what became this final version.

“The idea was to capture the feeling of being right on the boundary between chaos and control. That place where momentum and inertia make it almost impossible to stop, like running down a hill that’s way too steep. This literally happened to us on the Camino when we accidentally went the wrong way despite being warned multiple times not to,” explains McNalty.

Review

Coming in at under 4 minutes, “The Wrong Way” packs quite a punch, with almost 50 seconds, in the beginning, being purely instrumental. Now, I know what you’re thinking, instrumental can be quite boring, but trust me when I say this instrumental is far from boring. It is one of the most unique instrumentals I’ve heard in a long time.

Tara’s vocals are added, but the main focus continues to be that layered, distressed instrumental as if they are sucking the vocals into their tornado of sound.

In the chorus, we hear a more prominent version of Tara’s vocals belting out, “Don’t go the wrong way.” In my mind, it acts as a sort of subliminal message, as you’re so focused on the music through the track, then you hear a drawn-out, “Hey! Hey!, Don’t go the wrong way,” snapping you out of the slight hypnosis you’re in.

As I previously reviewed the band’s single, “Vagabond,” I can safely say 5th Projekt possesses something extremely intriguing, and I am anxious to hear what else they come up with.