Absolutely NineDays

17mintuesand38secondsinthedark

Track Listing:

1) Ultimate Love Song
2) The In Crowd
3) She Won't Get Away
4) Sweeter Than...
5) Anywhere

More Information:

"It's definitely 'me' with no filters," John agrees. "When I write songs, I always hear the whole thing in my head. In Nine Days, I'm always trying to get those ideas across to the other guys, so a solo project isn't really going to be much different for me other than I get to be an egomaniac and play all the parts myself! I am already working on part two and am looking at a few opportunities to make a full-length solo record next year."

But a solo career is not something Hampson is especially familiar with after recording five albums with his band mates in Nine Days since the mid 1990s. Is the title of the EP a hint at the unfamiliarity of being without long-time collaborator Brian Desveaux for the first time?

"It actually refers to many things," he replies. "But one is definitely the feeling of not knowing where things are at the moment, kind of blindly moving forward. But it also refers to the dark in a comforting way, like putting on a set of headphones and disappearing in the music."

The new solo tunes are free from any references to Nine Days' split with Epic, although John is quick to point out they are autobiographical to a point.

"All my songs have an element of my life in them", he says. "I draw from my past a lot, but I almost always use other people for inspiration, too, sort of like a composite character in a movie. For example, "The In Crowd" is really a very tongue-in-cheek look at having no friends except the characters on TV and how no-one can live up to the lifestyles portrayed there."

Fans of Nine Days will also be extremely happy with the new material, which was impressively produced by Hampson and Dave McNair. Especially pleasing are the up-tempo opener "Ultimate Love Song," which has a melody line as infectious as anything Hampson has written in the past, and the delicately crafted "She Won't Get Away," a classic-sounding acoustic pop-rock song with a modern twist.