Few bands' line-ups ever stay the same from inception to retirement. Members dropout, are kicked out, form new projects and then start the cycle again. Unfortunately for Jeff Schneeweis and Number One Gun, these changes have been extreme, and after losing his entire band to new projects, Schneeweis carries on the name Number One Gun on the band's elegant and dynamic third full-length release (and Schneeweis' first solo) _The North Pole Project_.
Schneeweis hits the ground running with driving melodies over distorted riffs on the album's tantalizing opening track The Massacre."" Utilizing dicey and augmented instrumentation, the fluidity of his multi-layered vocals connect the rough verse and aggressive chorus to the softer breakdown before abruptly giving way to the second track and the album's first mid-tempo single, ""Million.""
On the third track Schneeweis delivers the first of a handful of slower, down-tempo songs that punctuate his album of rock anthems. Perhaps nodding to the band's transition from the full four-piece that produced _Promises for the Imperfect_ two years ago to the solo it is now, ""The Best of You and Me"" lets Schneeweis' vocals resonate over sparse keyboard and guitar instrumentation that lends honesty to his words. On these slower tracks - including ""I'll Find You"" and the haunting, acoustic number ""The Different Ones"" - Schneeweis proves that his greatest strength as a songwriter may be how he uses sonic space as he engineers vocals that resonate and build careful harmonies that seem to slowly fill up that space, swallowing and consuming the listener.
The album's second single ""Wake Me Up"" is a solid though uninspiring and formulaic track shaped by arpeggiated power-chords behind anthemic choruses and Schneeweis' strained voice. This single is not the only track that falls by the wayside.Tracks like ""Find Your Escape"" and ""Thank You Ending"" boast electric intros that collide with acoustic verses and tambourines discernable somewhere between yelling and singing, but still fall victim to a similar pattern. They are ultimately not Schneeweis' most original efforts and sound too much like tracks released last year by label-mates The Almost.
Despite floundering on these mid-tempo tracks, Schneeweis finishes the album out strong with its most moving tracks ""The Different Ones"" and ""This Holiday."" With bare acoustic guitars and no effects, Schneeweis pulls his voice almost to a whisper on ""The Different Ones,"" tenderly promising that, ""You'll find that hope is standing by your side."" Ending with the album's final single ""This Holiday"" Schneeweis channels 1990's Jimmy Eat World while maintaining his voice on emotional verses over driving and playful acoustic rhythm guitar.
As a whole Schneeweis' solo album is a success, fitting Number One Gun's indie catalog and carving its own place in the band's history. Though it seems like he's caught somewhere between the band's old sound and his new one, Schneeweis composes and engineers a solid rock album that distinguishes itself from many of the albums in its mid-tempo genre by lacing his emotionally driven rock with messages of self-examination and improvement, giving hope to the future of Number One Gun's new line-up of, well, one.
