When sophomore Giannina Imperial and her friends first started jamming together in the music room after classes each day back in high school, they never anticipated how far their music-making would take them. But as of this summer, the band — The Ninth Hour — has released its debut album “The Ninth Hour, Vol. 1” on iTunes and Spotify.
The Ninth Hour was formed in 2012, while its members were all students at Lumen Christi Catholic High School in Jackson, Michigan. The friends used to recover from eight hours of classes by enjoying music together in the hour after the school day — the “ninth” hour, which eventually inspired the band’s name. According to Imperial, after the students began to swap ideas and “accidentally write songs,” The Ninth Hour started to evolve from a simple musical hangout to a serious creative endeavor.
The group started to perform at school functions, but it wasn’t until early May of this year that the band’s 10 current members first discussed producing an album. Three months later, “The Ninth Hour, Vol. 1,” was released on Aug. 20. It contains 10 original songs which range in style from plaintive ballads to earnest love songs to instrumental jazz pieces. Led by Justin Marcero, the choral director of Lumen Christi, and comprised of both students and alumni, The Ninth Hour used many instruments throughout the 10 tracks, including guitar, trumpet, saxophone, and drums.
The album’s purpose, according to Imperial, is to “show what the group has accomplished” as well as raise money for the school’s music program. A portion of the proceeds from the album’s sales will go toward Lumen Christi’s music department and will help purchase more advanced recording equipment.
Imperial, a vocalist and pianist, wrote the original song “Man or a Memory” for the album. She said it describes her experience of losing a best friend.
“Now that he’s gone, what will he be — a man or a memory?” she asks in the chorus. “What will you make him be?”
This sort of cathartic writing process is a significant aspect of the band’s mission, which is, in part, “to be able to learn together how to transcribe our experiences and creativity into the form of a song,” according to Imperial. She and other members also emphasized the importance of collaboration.
Guitarist Daniel Nowinski said the band’s mission is simply “to bring people together and create music.”
Additionally, Imperial hopes to emphasize that music is meant to be fun, something people often lose sight of amid the mundanity of practice. The Ninth Hour’s Facebook page describes the band’s style as “always fun, energetic, and soulful.”
“Most of the songs when they are first written are on one instrument, but then are brought to the group to see how we can expand the sound in depth,” Marcero said. “It’s a lot of fun to watch — and participate — in the formation and growth of each song.”
If all goes well, will a second volume appear someday? Perhaps — Marcero hopes that members will continue writing songs individually and refining them together in order to “accomplish a similar album in the future.”
