Solstice release their seventh studio album, Light Up, and it finds the veterans of the scene in rude health.
Solstice have been about on the UK music scene in one way or another since 1980, so the longevity is not in question even when one takes non-active periods into consideration. Come 2023, only guitarist Andy Glass remains from those heady days. I was into the 1984 release, Silent Dance, as I was with the other bands leading the second wave of UK progressive rock. I thoroughly enjoyed 2020’s release, Sia, featuring the gorgeous voice of new vocalist Jess Holland, and marvelled at the beautiful rendition of Cheyenne, revisiting a song from that debut.
The line-up on latest release, Light Up, is the same, so Glass & Holland are accompanied by Jenny Newman on violin, Pete Hemsley on drums, Robin Phillips on bass, and Steven McDaniel on keyboards.
Other websites describe the band, in their obsessive need to pigeonhole artists, as “neo-prog”, or “folk tinged neo-prog”, whatever that might mean, but in reality Solstice are an extraordinarily eclectic band, with a rich range of sounds and certainly any reader not familiar with their history and who especially enjoys a broad range of influences and female fronted artists will find much to enjoy here.
The band are signed to GEP, that doyen of quality progressive music, and another nod to the past given the fact that the band played with IQ back in the day. Recently, I reviewed label mate Damanek’s new album, and both acts are sheer quality.
Light Up brings us six new songs, weighing in at 44 minutes. The title track is a bright, breezy, and funky opener, a sunny welcome to the moment song. Holland’s voice here, as everywhere, really is a joy to listen to, Glass provides some bright guitar licks, as does McDaniel on his keyboards alongside Newman providing uplifting strings, and underneath the rhythm section pumps a song probably best listened to with a glass of bubbly in hand watching the sunrise in an exotic location. A joy to listen to.
The wonderfully cryptically named Wongle No.9 is up next, and trying to research the meaning of said Wongle brings up some interesting results, including one I saw which is probably best not quoted on a family website, lol! There are some disturbing guitar noises to start before a more familiar, but still dark, riff enters above another very funky jazz bassline. The violin does nothing to dispel the darker mood which is a real contrast to the sunny uplands which preceded it. Lyrically, though, the song is still in morning, but, to me, talking about starting the day’s work, activities, whatever. The dark mood is not prolonged and the violin some three minutes in together with the light touch keyboards give a sense of overcoming the early morning mood and getting on, running on ahead, go, go, and up, up. The feeling I have every work morning – the joy of waking up from the first track is replaced by a wish not to have to get on, but after freshening up and getting on with it, a renewed sense of life takes over. My take on it, anyway, and the later guitar solo is very much an urgent one.
Mount Ephraim is a track dedicated to the New Day Festival held at the Gardens of the same name, something I have not had the pleasure of visiting. The foot stamping violin opens proceedings, with more of that funky rhythm section. When the Glass guitar and McDaniel keys enter, the collective produce a gorgeous noise which I am sure would delight at the show in the live setting. When Holland enters talking about the enchanted garden, you are mesmerised. This track is certainly folk based, in that it talks of a cultural setting and a lived experience, but musically it is a glorious fusion of jazz, prog, funk, folk and is very good.
There are, deliberately, two separate “sides” to the album, and the first closes with Run. Over eight minutes long, it has a distinctly reflective mood led by guitar and violin alongside some very clever and nice percussive work. The lyrics reinforce this looking back on the day, calling one home. The vocals are deliciously delicate, and the violin solo which presages the closing passage is wonderfully mournful before the track expands extremely well with the collective coming together in the journey home and this denouement is an uplifting one, as if looking forward to seeing your lover at home following the day’s events.
Home is the next track, so night-time is here. There is again a reflective sense in this piece. It includes some marvellous vocal chants and cries in addition to the words and Newman reinforces just how vital her instrument is to the overall feel and mood of Solstice’s music. The jazzy drum and bass at the core of the track are good enough to listen to on their own before Glass delights with a gorgeous guitar solo making his instrument cry accompanied by soaring synths. The closing section this leads into with an explosion of noise simply makes you smile.
The epic closer is Bulbul Tarang, which is a stringed instrument (Indian banjo) emanating from the Punjab. It is almost ten and a half minutes long and features the instrument itself making a lovely noise. There is a trance-like feel to the opening section, with the words talking about being carried away across the water, and the music itself induces this feeling if you close your eyes and turn the light out. This section ends and the second one begins with some light jazzy piano and bass notes accompanying a dreamy vocal which would very much fit into the finest smoke-filled bars of days gone by. Glass then once again, as he has over all these years, impresses with a guitar solo of intensity. As the track moves into its closing section, the volume is turned up vocally with the guitar riffing as opposed to crying. Tasteful synths and a strong rhythm line back this intensity up before for the final minute we get a vocal chorus and a band taking us to a different plain.
I got the album in January, and have listened to it a lot before putting fingers to keyboard to write the review. Indeed, this review underwent more than a few edits before publication because every time I have listened to Light Up, I have experienced something quite different, the mark, of course, of a very clever rock album.
So, the best way to summarise this album is that Solstice are on a strong creative roll at the moment, and I for one cannot wait for the next instalment. This is a very strong album which comes highly recommended for all who, like me, want their music to express and evoke intensity and emotion. The album is available from the usual decent retailers such as the label itself, major streaming services, and will I believe also be available on Bandcamp.