The unorthodox discovery of Ontario’s Christian pop-rockers Article One by their record label, Inpop Records, may be inspirational and encouraging to anyone looking for life’s big break.

“They just literally sent me an e-mail,” said founding Article One member Matt Piche. “From coming across our MySpace, they heard the tunes, liked them and sent me an e-mail saying they wanted to sign us. Five months later, we were signed.”

The up-and-coming Article One, now with a self-titled debut under their belt and their new album “Colors and Sounds” hitting shelves in May, will perform on Friday, March 28 in the Great Lakes Rooms of the University Center.

“Colors and Sounds” could be the album that propels Article One to the mainstream. Piche said their first single, “Without You,” was just released to radio and is currently sitting at No. 19 on the Christian singles chart, and has been the most added to radio in that category for three straight weeks.

“Hopefully we’ll have some radio success for the [new] album – something we didn’t have for the last. It was more underground,” Piche said. “Hopefully things will take off and we’ll really grow our fan base and be able to keep performing and traveling around.”

Though Piche said his brother, vocalist and guitarist Nathan Piche, brings most of the concepts and ideas to the studio, assisting the group with their latest album is Nashville producer Tedd T., who has worked with both the Christian pop group Newsboys and pop-rockers Mute Math in the past.

“He’s teaching us a lot about writing and he got involved in a lot of the writing for [‘Colors and Sounds’],” Piche said.

The group formed in 2003, although the lineup has changed a handful of times. The current lineup has held constant for two and a half years, with the Piche brothers-Matt on violin, Nathan on guitar and both doing vocal work-alongside drummer Dave De Smit and bassist Mark Laidman.

Both Piche brothers have played instruments for most of their lives, as have their bass and drum playing bandmates.

Now 21, Matt Piche began playing violin at age five. Both his 23-year-old brother and 19-year-old Laidman played classic piano growing up.

Things started to click for the Piches five years ago, when they played together in a church group. Mostly playing worship cover songs, Nathan decided to try writing his own lyrics and in turn, the first works of Article One were created.

Piche, who later began co-writing songs and had a helping hand in writing each of the tracks on the new album, said the group draws influences from a range of pop and rock artists, from U2 and the Beatles to Maroon 5 and Coldplay.

The band has been on the road with the Newsboys since February, playing shows much larger than they’re accustomed to.

“It’s really cool being a band that not too many people have heard of in America, and we show up in Houston where it’s a sold out 8,000 seat arena,” Piche said.

The show is presented by the student group Immersed, and begins at 7 p.m. The show is free for students and $2 for non-students.