LINES OF CONVICTION
‘OPEN HEARTS’
Busselton’s Lines Of Conviction are a band in that delicious stage of development when everything is about the tingle of anticipation that comes in the early days. If we take Tuckman’s stages of group development as a model, these are their days of forming, when everything seems possible, no matter how outlandish. Spend all our money on recording our first single? Hells yeah! What do we have to lose? Well, nothing, except all your money, your pride, your dignity and the bonds that brought you together as a band in the first place. You see, when you start out, you risk it all, but that’s never stopped the likes of Lines of Conviction.
…if they storm the entire fucking world, I’ll be the first to say I told you so.
Following Tuckman’s thesis, the next stage of group development is storming and, with their first single, ‘Open Hearts’, tucked away in their back pocket, that’s exactly what Lines Of Conviction will be expecting to do. They’re going to want to storm every stage, every dark digital alleyway and every media outlet they can find to try to grab hold of an audience.
And that’s what ‘Open Hearts’ does, it grabs you by the scruff of the neck and takes you along for a thrill ride that’s all jagged guitar hooks, chugging power chords and the heartfelt vocals of singer and guitarist, Dean Gittos, who’s just beginning to learn the power of their craft.
Oh yeah! that’s the refrain that binds this song’s lyrics together and it was my first response on listening, too. Lines Of Conviction have really gone and done something here. Sure, it’s a throwback to the early 2000 and the 28 Days songbook, which in itself was highly derivative. But none of that matters, because while 28 Days made that shit their own, so could Lines Of Conviction.
‘Open Hearts’ shows they have the chops, the emotional intelligence and the ability to drive a song along so that it makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. What matters now is how that parlay this more than capable beginning into the next stages of their career. And, if they storm the entire fucking world, I’ll be the first to say I told you so.
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