Firescape, the side-project of Something Corporate guitarist and songwriter Josh Partington, edges away from the self-wrought convention of “piano rock” towards the rawer, harder edge of his own songwriting. With echoes of the melodic rock sub-genre that defined Josh’s previous work, Firescape rings with the heavier, richer sound of a musician in touch with the personal aspects of his music; thought and memory and a devotion to influence, “I guess it’s like a photo-album in a lot of ways.”

With Partington carrying the title of songwriter, performer and producer, Firescape’s brand of hook-driven, introspective rock forgoes compromise to give the listener a truer, more intimate portrait of the musician pulling the levers and playing the notes. The songs are a combination of the fluid styles that defined Jimmy Eat World or Weezer and the heavier guitar elements of bands like Queens of the Stone Age. It is not a comment on a failing situation, rather a stylistic elaboration on sound and substance. “I think being in a band is awesome, but it is really cool to see what happens in a studio situation when you have a vision that is clear-cut and can be fully realized as the only performer.”

There is a haunting energy, a drive that is fueled by both lyrical depth and choruses that have an unshakeable confidence and warmth. There is an undertow that is both melancholy and hopeful, an exposition of both the histories of the songwriter and the more universal subjects of the songs.

This branching off seems a step into a more mature sound, one that reminds the listener of the distant sadness of Elliot Smith or the expressive authority of Incubus, while maintaining its own mixture of musical eloquence and force.