Tony Cummings quizzed LANDRY CANTRELL to learn about his years of honing his studio craft

Tony: When you were reaching around to find your sound and your style, that can be a long process over years can't it?

Landry: Absolutely.

Tony: Stylistically, I'd say there's a definite R&B influence in there and Landry can sing a soul lick. I'd also say the production and the overall sound is - I'm throwing a few phrases together - electro pop with a bit of dance music in there.

Landry: It's funny because I probably would describe it pretty much the same way you just said. Obviously it's pop music, I've always been a huge fan of pop music but R&B is my favourite.
I'm just by myself in my car I'm gonna put some R&B music on and just jam it out. The electronic is kinda like a guilty pleasure for me - you kind of nailed all my favourite genres right there. I guess it comes through honestly in my music.

Tony: Getting back to 'Projections', what are your particular favourite tracks?

Landry: There are a few songs on the album where I kind of express myself in a more vulnerable way, I guess, and they're not your typical Christian songs because they don't necessarily have a resolution. You know, how every Christian song you hear on the radio they have a problem and then the resolution. I just wanted to be honest with the songs and express a certain emotion that I was feeling and the songs that fit this category on the album. There's a track towards the end called "Underneath" and there's another track called "Fade Out" and they kind of are about similar things, but it's just me kind of crying out, speaking from my heart and wanting to be real in the hopes that someone could relate to what I was feeling and saying and realise that it's okay to feel like that and they're not alone in these kinds of fears. Then hopefully they listen to the rest of the album. Then on other tracks I kind of guide them to the process of Jesus is there and he's the comforter and all of that amazing stuff that we all know as Christians.

Tony: Tell me a bit about the song "Before You".

Landry: That's actually the single and the one that radio has been picking up a bit. A friend of mine sent me a track and said, "Hey man, I'd really like you to write for this song." I put the track on and I started feeling completely defeated, completely discouraged, did not think I was gonna write anything for this track. I kind of went through the motions as a courtesy to this guy and I did the track, so I was inspired in that way. I put it on and just kinda started writing lyrics. If you listen to the verse - I thought, 'Well, this is a dark verse, kind of almost hopeless sounding.' That was my state of mind at the time when I was writing the song. But, as I began to write the song it kind of pulled me out of that hopelessness. By the time I got to the chorus my whole perspective had changed and I was feeling inspired, feeling that lift.