In today’s MTV-dominated musical landscape, catchy choruses, vocal hooks and three-part harmonies are often considered the key to making it big in the industry. But Des Moines-based instrumental trio The Autumn Project is forging a very different path, eschewing the traditional storytelling role of vocals, and leaving songs open to individual listeners’ interpretation.

“Our music asks people to create their own story lines, to create their own mental picture of what’s going on,” drummer and synthesizer player Mike Gustafson says. “I think that can be very inspiring for our audience.”

The Autumn Project started as a studio endeavor, with Gustafson playing all of the instruments on his own. He later recruited brothers John and Jess Huffman to help out on traditional and baritone guitars.

“It all began as a solo project I was working on sometime around 1997 or ’98,” Gustafson says. “I was writing and recording a lot of material.”

Gustafson says The Autumn Project began as a much more experimental project using loops and various droning effects, and the band spent a great deal of time refining its sound.

“The Autumn Project, as you know it, really came out after a year and a half of jamming and shaping this instrumental sound,” Gustafson says.

Although it can be more challenging for The Autumn Project to convey emotion in its songs without the benefit of vocals or lyrics, Gustafson says it also gives the band members unique musical possibilities.

“Without a vocalist, you’re given this overwhelming opportunity to create music – just sound,” Gustafson says. “It is up to us to just follow through and deliver something different and something beautiful.”

Gustafson says although many of today’s instrumental bands attempt to dazzle listeners with flashy musicianship, The Autumn Project is more interested in drawing listeners into a musical environment.

“Our music is not challenging technically and we really don’t want it to be,” Gustafson says. “We really just want people to be absorbed from the opening drone to the end of the show.”

The Autumn Project uses a fog machine and video projectors to complement its music in the live setting. The band views the fog machine as a fourth member, Gustafson says jokingly.

“We really try to add some theatrical elements to what we do,” Gustafson says. “We like to refer to the fog machine as our front man.”

The Autumn Project’s music is a collaborative effort, but Gustafson is in charge of the group’s visual aspects, and says he attempts to present slightly skewed versions of images taken from real life.

“I shoot and edit all the video projections, and I take bits and pieces from different realms of reality,” he says. “They’re often processed and digitally altered a bit and that really reflects what we’re trying to do musically.”

Overall, Gustafson says, being an instrumental band hasn’t stopped The Autumn Project from gaining a following, despite Des Moines’ reputation for being dominated by heavy metal bands.

“I don’t think that it’s any harder for an instrumental, post-modern band to make it locally than it is for a metal band,” Gustafson says. “It really just comes down to how the audience responds to what you’re doing.”

What: The Autumn Project

Where: Vaudeville Mews,

212 4th St., Des Moines

When: 9 p.m. Wednesday

Cost: $5

The Autumn Project

Discography:

“Fable” (Imagine It Records, 2003, re-released 2005)

“La Luna De Negra” (Zurecords, 2004)

Has toured with: Tenebre, This is a Process of a Still Life