When Chris and Renee Lahoud decide to commit to something, they most certainly go all in.
Their upcoming self-titled album for Project 34 is nothing short of grandiose. In nature, composition and scope.
Featuring over 30 musicians from 13 countries, Project 34 is more than a musical group. It is an expansion of your musical psyche, stretched and moulded in directions you didn’t even imagine possible.
Spread over three separate chapters, Project 34 tells a cautionary tale, but also one with which every man, woman and child on this planet can relate to.
It is unique and therefore special, and with the release date of December 1 looking large, Chris sat down with HEAVY to try and shed some light on the enigma that is Project 34.
We start by mentioning the second single from the album, Prayer, which comes out on November 1.
“Prayer is a very special track for us,” Chris explained. “That one was written by myself, Renee and our dear friend Matthew Walker. It’s got a sad, sombre, but yet also uplifting tone and is probably my favourite on the album. It’s one of those more unique songs in terms of its direction. I tried to make the vocals as passionate and emotive as I could, and I hope it portrays the feeling we were trying to convey. There’s a very strong anti-suicide message in the video, which is a theme throughout the song, and I feel the lyrics and the video represent that really well. The video is pretty confronting and will be difficult for some to watch, however, it will be a bit of an eye-opener for others. We really feel it has the potential to change a life, or impact a life. Having lost many friends and family to suicide, we felt it pertinent to discuss the topic, especially in this time where mental health is of significance seeing what we’ve been through this last two years in particular.”
Prayer follows on from previous single Heritage, and given the concept behind the album, we ask Chris if the two songs are connected in any way.
“They’re somewhat connected,” he measured. “The desert landscape is present in Sunrise and the Heritage videos are also present in the video for Prayer, albeit they are representing a form of Purgatory or limbo in Prayer. However, the tones of the tracks are not so connected, and you will hear very different directions between the two singles. We did this intentionally to express the broad nature of the album, so we varied those two releases accordingly.”
In the full interview, Chris talks more about the album and the concept behind it, the time that has gone into putting the album together, the three chapters and what they represent, committing the band name to the album and why now is the right time to do so, a history on Project 34, how he assembled musicians from all over the world, his selection criteria, future music and more.
