“The End knows that an ending is never just an ending since it includes all that had come before and at the same time gently influences all that follows.”
Following three years since their last musical release, PROJECT: Beyond are now back with “The End”, an alternative pop-rock song that offers ample space for its main idea. The track is based on a simple yet strong concept: nothing vanishes without leaving something behind. When people leave, times go by and chapters come to an end, but their influence still remains in the person who is left behind. Instead of viewing loss as a complete end, PROJECT: Beyond focuses on what occurs afterwards—the memories, the changes and the experiences that go on to shape us.
The idea endows the song with a kind of emotional depth that goes beyond what is suggested by its title. Rather than merely focusing on the final moment of something, the song takes account of all the aspects associated with an ending. The way the band writes enables feelings of grief, difficulty and change to coexist with the possibility of growth. It doesn’t make an effort to provide a tidy conclusion. On the contrary, the song acknowledges that some experiences only become significant as time passes and when we look back on them we understand them in a different way from the way we did at the time they occurred. In terms of music, the song shows off that sense of movement. PROJECT: Beyond starts from an organic rock base but incorporates modern pop and indie production to broaden its sound. The outcome is melodic yet not excessively predictable. The structure leaves room for variation and development, helping to support the song’s shifting emotional tone rather than just sticking to a standard verse-and-chorus pattern. The music has the feeling of progressing through various stages of reflection, something that is appropriate for a song about a change from one state to another. It is also rather appropriate that ‘The End’ has been with the band for so long. The song was composed before some of the experiences which later caused a change in the way its meaning was seen. The feelings of grief and hardship have given the lyrics new dimensions without entirely altering what was originally present. In this way, the song has developed together with the people who made it. Its meaning is not set; rather, it has been influenced by all the events that took place between the time it was first written and its final release.
The fact that PROJECT: Beyond was a do-it-yourself project also contributes to the character of the song. Since the band member wrote, produced and mixed the track themselves, ‘The End’ doesn’t attempt to conceal the human involvement in the recording; on the contrary, its imperfections and limitations form an integral part of its identity. The song sounds less like an effort to achieve something perfect and more like an honest record of the situation the band finds themselves in at this stage of their lives. In the end, “The End” gains its power from not viewing conclusions as being empty. A thing can be finished and yet still be important. A person can be gone and yet have an effect on the sort of people we become. A chapter can come to an end while at the same time gently opening the way to another one. PROJECT: Beyond conveys that kind of tension by means of a well-considered piece of alternative pop-rock which encourages the listener to think not only about what has ended but also about what is left afterwards.
English