THE MUSIC-

It’s so easy to forget. Feelings fade. Passion does, too. And memories, they’re nothing more than a morning fog burned away by the sun before the clock’s hands point to noon. Things come up, hit us right where it hurts, and before we know it, we’re in this slippery mud pit and it feels like that’s where we’ve always been, or at least where we’ll be until the mud dries into dirt and runs off with the wind.

That’s why we have to remember. We just have to.

“Music has a way of connecting with people like nothing else does,” says Progeny singer/songwriter/guitarist Ben Toalson about the band’s new album, Remember. “There are songs I hear on the radio that remind me of something I’ve forgotten, something that happened back when I was a kid. It’s amazing the things I can remember.

“That’s what we wanted to do with these songs. Give people a point in time to remember. Remind them to remember. Help them remember everything—the good times and the bad because it’s all important.”

The album, released in May 2008, is the San Antonio-based band’s sophomore release, the much-anticipated follow-up to the 2006 release, Distractions. The 13-song album takes more of a rock twist than the band’s first album but features the same creative harmonies and raw emotion that fans have grown to love.

Ben and his wife, Rachel (bass guitar, keys, vocals) pen lyrics that combine spirituality with some of today’s most difficult issues, like forgiveness in “Letting Go,” one of the few pop-rock songs on the album. The song explores the struggle to forgive (I’ve tried my best to forget/But there are times I still remember) and the slow process to freedom (I’m letting this go/I’m choosing to forgive what happened before/Freedom is slow/But I can’t live with this anymore/So I’m letting go).

Then there’s electric guitar-driven “Shadow of Perfection,” which challenges dads to stand up and be dads (He’s looking at you/Watching every move/It’s on your shoulders/To show him the truth/Cuz he’ll be just like you/When he gets older), and the lyrically haunting “Waiting for Beautiful,” which exposes the struggle women have with believing they are beautiful and worth being loved (All of these lies/They keep telling me/I’ll never hear you/I’ll never hear you say/You are more beautiful than the stars in the sky).

Produced by Heath Michael Bottomly (Downcast Fable, Goodnight Darling, You Hang Up) and Robert Venable (Sunday Morning Drive, Zero Theory, Scott Stapp of Creed), Remember showcases the band’s diverse musical direction with songs like piano ballad “I’m Not Broken” and acoustic guitar-driven “My Heart.”

The former song, written for some of Ben and Rachel’s friends, shows the struggle of a woman unable to conceive a child (What is wrong with me/The question lingering…I’m not broken, not defective/I’m just waiting for a miracle/Waiting for a miracle.) The latter laments fading passions that were once strong (I carried a passion that could tear me apart/But now there’s something wrong with my heart).

It’s been more than two years since the group recorded Distractions, and during the interim, Ben and Rachel wrote more than 40 songs.

“It was hard choosing which ones would go on the album,” Ben says. “So many things happened during the years. We went through a difficult move. We became parents. We lost some people who were very important to us. All of that can be seen in the songs on this album.”

“Becoming parents really opened our eyes to a love like we’ve never known,” Rachel says. “We had to tap into that for these songs. All this time, I couldn’t stop thinking that we’re writing these songs for someone else’s kids. And deep down, all those parents really love their kids the way we love our son. Even if they weren’t around as much as they should have been.”

Other noted tracks include “Never Too Late,” a song Rachel wrote for her dad, who struggles with alcohol and forgiving himself for his past mistakes (We’re not the choices we’ve made/No matter how black or white or gray/It’s never too late/It’s never too late to walk the other way); “Back To You,” a song about returning to a first love when life gets too busy; and “Alive,” a song about waking up and really living.

One of the first songs Ben and Rachel wrote for the album was “So Far,” right after the birth of their son, Jadon.
“It was a tough time,” Rachel says. “Life was already so busy, and now we had this new dynamic. We were trying to be good parents and good musicians and good employees, and it was just all so much.

“It came to a point where I felt like Ben and I were just strangers living in the same house, sharing the same bed. I finally had to say, ‘Wait. You know what? I love you so much more than all of these dreams and duties and responsibilities.”

Progeny had its beginnings back in 2003, just after Ben and Rachel married. The couple sang in local coffee shops and restaurants and snagged the name Progeny, which means “descendant” or “result of a creative effort,” in early 2004.
Distractions was released in June 2006.

Ben and Rachel say they approached Remember with a different focus. The first album, they say, was encouraging and upbeat and happy. Remember is raw and gut-wrenching and real.

“Life is tough,” Ben says. “It’ll knock you down and stomp all over you. But that’s when it’s important to remember where we’ve been and how we survived all those other times we felt bruised and beaten.”

“These songs are real,” Rachel says. “They’re real because they’re how we felt, too. We had real struggles and real problems and real awakenings, and you’ll hear it in these songs.

“We hope, more than anything, that these songs will connect with the people out there who want to break down the walls they’ve built around their hearts and finally feel what it means to hurt and really heal.”