21:03 - Total Attention

By Peggy Oliver

Verity Records

As if PAJAM does not already have a packed schedule of artists to cater to and record; somehow the in-demand urban production gurus find quality time to mentor, groom, and choose three male voices for the next aspiring group who balance singing with ministering the gospel. Sean Grant, Evin Martin and Torrence Green are collectively known as 21:03; the name being dubbed after their introduction on the twenty-first day of January 2003. Shortly after the group formed, Grant was replaced by Jor’el Quinn. Some skeptics might question another manufactured boy band created by production Svengalis, competing for critics and the music buying public’s favor.

With one PAJAM (Paul Allen, Walter Kearney, and J. Moss) produced project successfully in the books, the vocal band returns for Total Attention, a mix of edgy beats, urban and pop ballads, uplifting the Lord in praise and worship. It took two grueling years to realize their self-titled recording debut, which has been compared to several eighties and nineties urban vocal groups including Color Me Badd and Silk. Two areas that the Chicago-based Verity Records artists vouch for is that nothing is manufactured about their affection for Christ, and their shared creative input with PAJAM. Besides performing with major gospelteers - Kirk Franklin and Mary Mary - on tour plus an upcoming television appearance on Bobby Jones Next Generation on the Gospel Music Channel, 21:03 has been privileged to travel to Bermuda to share their testimony with youth groups.

In comparison to their self-titled debut, Total Attention explores a bit further outside the contemporary urban box. An excellent example is the opener, Riverside, flipping the musical script between complex jazz harmonies and gospel passion on the classic spiritual Down by the Riverside.

The band also gets their feet wet with the throbbing techno jolts that accompany You, a song about warning the body of Christ about friends in sheep’s clothing: “Sometimes the closest ones to me seem like enemies.”

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