To the Secrets and Knowledge

Jeff Schneeweis resurrected Number One Gun as a solo project in 2007, one year after the group’s original lineup splintered. Working without the aid of his onetime bandmates, Schneeweis proved to be a competent one-man band with the release of 2008’s North Pole Project, which found the frontman mixing his anthemic emo-pop songs with electronic flourishes and dark, atmospheric arrangements. To the Secrets & Knowledge revisits that same formula, offering a second helping of passionate songcraft in the vein of Mae, Further Seems Forever, and the Juliana Theory. Schneeweis may be on his own here — he even produced the album himself, shoehorning the recording sessions into a schedule already filled with production gigs for Hawthorn Heights, Esterlyn, and Brighten — but he multi-layers his instruments and vocal harmonies smartly, keeping things sparse during “White Lies” while piling instrument upon instrument during the towering opening track, “The Victory.” To the Secrets & Knowledge may be a Christian album at heart, but it also has the most secular appeal of any Number One Gun album to date.