Ferocious Designs, the music project of Central New Jersey-based songwriter Brian Kelley, has released "Crossing the Finish Line," a rumination on mortality set to power pop that serves as the first single from the Off You Pop EP due out in 2025. A lyric video for the single has also been released.
"Crossing the Finish Line" can be streamed/downloaded from multiple sites and services at FerociousDesigns.com.
Although Kelley’s work as Ferocious Designs has been heavily reliant on keyboards and synthesizers, their use is minimal on “Crossing the Finish Line” and the Off You Pop EP as he has instead opted to make it a guitar-oriented collection — despite near-zero skill as a guitar player.
“After power-pop legend Dwight Twilley passed away in October 2023, I found myself listening to that genre again,” said Kelley. “I was jealous of that sound so I wanted to see if I could create my own version of it despite my limitations on guitar.”
As a result of those limitations, the process for recording the songs for Off You Pop has been arduous for Kelley. “I’m basically recording the guitar parts in 1-4 bar segments,” he said.
Kelley decided to release “Crossing the Finish Line” well ahead of the Off You Pop EP because he is running in his fifth — and, possibly, final — Philadelphia Marathon on Nov. 24, 2024. “Much of the song was written in my head during a very challenging final 8.2 miles of last year’s race,” said Kelley. “I experienced a potentially life-threatening medical crisis in May 2023 and that led to some issues with my lower left leg.
“I’m going to give the marathon another shot, but this might be the last one,” added Kelley, who has completed six marathons and three Olympic-distance triathlons between 2014 and 2023. Many of the finisher medals from those events — and more — can be seen in the single's artwork and lyric video.
Kelley said he expects the Off You Pop EP to be available during the first half of 2025.
Ferocious Designs is the DIY music project of central New Jersey-based songwriter Brian Kelley. Although he has spent most of the past 30-plus years as a songwriting hobbyist, Kelley is not a complete stranger to the New Jersey music scene. He is a longtime collaborator with singer-songwriter Christian Beach, spending time with him during the late 1980s and early 90s in a band that played the much-loved and long-gone Green Parrot Rock Club in Neptune, NJ, multiple times. Kelley has played keyboards, accordion and percussion in Beach's backing band since 2007, and has recorded with him as well. The project name is borrowed from the lyrics of “Cover My Eyes (Pain and Heaven)” by Marillion. The debut, five-song EP from Ferocious Designs, A Matter of Time, was released on July 16, 2021. That same day, the project’s debut single, “Lay It on the Line,” was named Makin Waves Song of the Week by longtime New Jersey music journalist Bob Makin. Looking for the Light, the debut album from Ferocious Designs, was released March 10, 2023.
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