I love side projects, but I don't think I like the term "side project." 

That is the conclusion I came to when I was spinning Congrats' Pharaoh EP last week, on yet another crisp winter walk in the forest in my village. For those who are not aware or were not around last year to read this blog, Congrats is the side project, for lack of a better phrase, of Slowly Slowly's frontman Ben Stewart. If I had to sum it up in one sentence, which might become a regular motif in these reviews, I would say: "Sounds wildly different from the music and aesthetic Slowly Slowly are known for, which is brilliant, because that's not Slowly Slowly. Has the potential to get Billboard big- or maybe I know nothing about the charts? I'd put this in my personal top forty anyway."
I don't think I like the term "side project." I understand I'm nitpicking about semantics, and it is simply a way of saying an artist has a main project they dedicate most of their time to and are most widely known for, and another, smaller thing on the side, but I still don't like it. Maybe it stems from being the girl who found multiple ways to channel her imagination, creative juices, and inspiration, all through embroidery, writing, taking pictures, drawing, or painting, and they all matter to me. Together, they make this bigger puzzle of my self-expression. They are simply different channels for one's imagination and creativity, different chapters of the same book.

From the start, that's what I have envisioned Congrats to be. Different chapters for other parts of the vivid, unique, and stellar story written by Ben Stewart. There were already a few songs out on streaming platforms, including the excellent Cut Down The Middle and its earworm chorus. When, in July 2020, single Russian Roulette and its slick, Quentin Tarantino-esque music video came out, it gave an inkling that Congrats was up to something more than just a few songs here and there. In March of this year, Pharaoh, an equal parts hopeful and gutwrenching EP, was released, and I knew, straight away, straight from the middle of the fields down the road, that it would be high up on the list of my favourite releases. Sometimes, I just know, I guess. 

In Ben Stewart's words, "this collection of songs encompasses the year [I] had in pre-COVID 2019- it was a blur of self-denial where I found clues in my own music as to what I was feeling, when I was seemingly okay on the surface." Every song on this EP is a piece to a puzzle, a colour in the tapestry, tales of heartbreak (Lobotomy), resisting self-destructing urges (Russian Roulette), or following your instincts (Berserk). Pharaoh, the title track, the focal point as it is the middle of the story, is musical perfection, plain and simple. I was initially taken aback by how dark it was and how understated the production seemed compared to the rest of the tracklist. It starts with a simple, almost quiet piano melody, and the vocals are close to spoken word. Right after the line "the shadow that I can't outrun," the sounds abruptly shift, the melody accelerates and, though in the future, we will have plenty of time to explore how I am a sucker for melodies, sounds, and words matching, here is a prime example of it. Once again, in Stewart's words, "there's a lot of darkness housed in shiny exteriors and that seems to be the common thread amongst the songs." Or, as the lyrics say: "In this pharaoh's golden tomb / This pretty painted room / I'm rotting out of view / I won't be the hero at the end of this story." Maybe darkness underneath shiny exteriors is the common thread, and maybe it was underneath my nose this whole time, but this is the line that made everything click together for me. Pharaoh is a masterpiece in song composition. 

As a different chapter of the same book, Pharaoh, the EP, comes attached to influences I am not all that familiar with, names I have mostly read but paid little attention to, such as Post Malone and Yung Lean. (Yes, I am aware that Post Malone is one of the best-known artists on the planet. No, I have never listened to his music apart from Candy Paint.) See, listening to different genres for me is almost like a trick question, the exercise I cannot bring myself to do because I don't know where to start. I initially jumped headfirst into Congrats' music because it is created by an artist I am familiar with, even though it is under a different name and form. Other than that, the genre itself, the music sphere it is a part of, is something I do not know how to speak about or qualify. I simply do not know anything about it. I know what a trap beat is, and I know there are some in here, but that's the most technical term you'll get out of me.

At the end of the day, none of it matters, because all I care about is that whatever the package, whatever the assembling of sounds, whatever the influences, I find components in Congrats that I love in music, in the general sense of the word: solid, most of the time emotional music, a strongly defined aesthetic, catchy hooks and melodies, and the concept that none of it has been put here as an afterthought. The rest lies between semantics and magic. All throughout my years of collecting favourite songs like some collect stamps or expensive cars, as if albums and EPs were part of the tapestry of my life, I have accumulated lyrics I love, the kind of line you like so much you would start the song over just to hear them again. If you were at school, you'd write them all over your notebooks and/or Converse while you were bored in math class. Pharaoh, the EP, is full of them, which is a testament to Ben Stewart's unique way with words and his undeniable talent at injecting so much poetry inside the darkness and the pain. The pre-chorus of Lobotomy is the first one that springs to mind. "Making side eyes in the car / Drinks in jackets at the bar / Oh and then my favourite part / When you broke my fucking heart." This line has it all: stories so vivid you could picture them in your mind, a perfectly placed F-bomb, and briefly being tricked into believing that this story is not going to end as awfully as you think it will. But it does, and the chorus drives the point even further: "You needed space / So I got a lobotomy." (This line always reminds me of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, but I like this a lot more than I did the film.)

I could dissect lyrics forever, trained by an endless, thirteen-year-long love for a woman who has me analysing words and lines more than I ever did at any point during my English degree (hi, Taylor), but I will spare everyone the brain gymnastics. Pharaoh has been brought to glorious life by someone who knows the fine art of taking a personal story and turning it into something relatable and universal. With Congrats as an outlet, Ben Stewart proves the versatility of his songwriting and musical skills and gives us food for thought and reflective, dark lyrics, all packaged in a timeless yet modern, shiny exterior.