It’s not easy being in a band. The “it’s Ike being married to three or four other people” often rings true.
However, for most bands the friction, disagreements, variance in musical tastes is the fuel of the musical fire. The bit where the magic happens.
To be honest for most it has to be this way. The singer needs a guitarist, the bass player needs a drummer but there are a handful of talented multi instrumental musicians who have the ability to strip everything back to just themselves and their imagination.
JP Carroll is one such talent. He is also a master of the killer riff.
JP is Arrays. Music, production, promotion. His process is one where any creative friction must come from within. The discipline and drive it must take to single handedly create and perform a song like Dead Seas is a rare talent.
Anyone familiar with JP's previous band AIA will find Dead Seas familiar territory. It is a slice of hard rocking introspection with excellent songwriting. Lyrically it gives an insight into the internal conflict that is driving his.
Going solo seems to have given JP a little more freedom to be a little more creative. There is more depth, more soul in this song than some of his previous releases. The groove is instant and seeps in as the words float by almost just out of reach. The chorus questions and makes you think. It’s more than just words, more than just a groove, Dead Sea is asking, reaching, questioning. It’s dark and light.
In a world where self-belief is often frowned upon JP is standing up, he is asking questions, he is shining a light on himself stripped bare of any support. It works, take a listen.
Arrays is the solo studio project of JP Carroll - the archetypal one man band. JP writes, performs and arranges the songs, records and produces the tracks, and even handles the mixes by himself. Music is his obsession, from writing a song, to mixing it and releasing it.
The new album Light Years is a tour de force of melodic, guitar heavy, metal-infused rock. This record is proudly independent, self produced and funded, and another way point on the journey JP is on to achieving the sound he hears in his head.
No Way Out presents a visceral, aggressive aspect of Arrays, driven by a palm muted riff, before the syncopated, stomping bridge lands. Little Blue Dot reveals a softer side, until the anthemic final chorus. Home is a twisted time capsule for our shared experience in lockdown, and the title track sets off the record with introspective lyrics and an arrangement big and wide enough to carry them.