For some people, playing in one band isn’t nearly enough to satisfy their creative drives for one reason or another with genre-hopping more than a constant for many whether it be purely to entertain themselves or a true drive to do something well for the sound by their own hands. It’s an endless pursuit for many that never stops as life’s clock keeps on ticking while the itch gets evermore irritating without any sort of reprieve in sight, but it’s for some that new material in many different territories comes surprisingly often. For the lone man behind Gin Lane who plays roles in several other acts sprinkled throughout the underground, it’s now with this name that a new outlet is being pursued with results that are more potent than I originally dared to expect with its debut EP an offering that’s just as flavorful.

A rustic creation that manages to embody many different levels of many of our lives even as it transcends different scenarios, lives, and countries is the sort of piece that many of us need in our listening habits in some form or another. Often, music of that breed can remind us of our roots, good times, or even just what it means to take life one day at a time with all the struggles and happiness having their own times with naught guaranteed but the rising and setting of the sun. With its 2-track debut EP, “Unpleasant Promises”, Gin Lane brings to the table a far darker take for the style than I think many of us would initially expect from this particular vein of rock music, but it’s with a tremendous performance showcasing a clear understanding of what can really work in the style that this humble EP shows us exactly what this act is capable of with a sound that’s as welcoming as it is eye-opening. A small piece that shows us the first steps of what Gin Lane has crafted up to now, it’s clear listening to this EP that the name still has a long way to go before becoming a tour-de-force of its style but it’s despite that which we can experience a suprising amount. Right from the very beginning, “Unpleasant Promises” presents a feeling as though you’ve just driven through a small, dying town that’s been brought to its knees by its own failures and shortcomings in the wake of such wondrous promise with it but a small-scale representation of mankind as a whole. Put that into a package of just two songs in a form of what I’m tempted to call some form of indie rock with a rustic flair that is almost surprisingly ear-catching, the very essence of “Unpleasant Promises” is much more than what I initially expected with a much deeper message than I think anyone could’ve dared expected after even from the point our eyes laid upon the very name of Gin Lane.

This is reportedly but a taste of what Gin Lane has coming in the future with a more fleshed out debut that is to be recorded sometime this year, and I can’t help but tell you that I am beyond curious to see what this name can deliver with such a start that shows us precisely what kind of act we’re dealing with here. “Unpleasant Promises” is a humble start for a name that clearly has much more to say and do well before it even comes close to stopping, and I know damn well that this should be considered yet another act by the mastermind that should be considered another success in the making should it simply stay the course.

“Unpleasant Promises” releases on March 28th via Fucking Your Creation Records!

LISTEN to “Unpleasant Promises” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Gin Lane on Facebook here.