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Recommended by us on 6th August 2010
...according to our Business Lady on Fri 06 Aug, 2010.
Solar Bears is the work of Irish born John Kowalski and Rian Trench. These lads appear to be engineering genius's and must a soft spot for works of Mike Oldfield because the A-side of this record has pure MOR 70's analogue synthesis written all over it. Opener 'Trans Waterfall' kicks things of in a reliable and sturdy krautrock style before drifting into San Fran psych territory with flutes and acoustic guitars dominating the final section. This brings us to 'Photo Negative Living' that reminds me so much of Oldfield it's almost doing my head in. No bad thing mind, i like a bit of late night agoraphobic studio trickery and these guys don't disappoint on that front though they do ruin the moment with a weird bolt-on post-rock onslaught that doesn't really suit the overall mood. 'Inner Sunshine' completes and redeems the A-side with laid back organ and acoustic musings but the final original 'Kill On' takes us back into super serious post-rock territory and just doesn't sit that well with me. The remixes from Letherette ('Crystalline' is reworked with an LA funk flavour which sounds ace) and Lone ('Twin stars' is given a tasty cosmic space disco vibe and is the best of the tracks featured here) are totally ace and wrap things up nicely. So, a record that sounds like a 70's/80's producers wet dream with a few patchy moments letting the side down....i think that's a fair analysis. Transmission concluded.
Hailing from Ireland, Wicklow and Dublin to be precise, John Kowalski and Rian Trench met at Pulse Sound
Engineering School, formed Solar Bears and just recently signed to Planet Mu. This EP is a taster before their full length
album ‘She Was Coloured In’ which is released in September.
Solar Bears’ music is a many-faceted soundworld that hangs together through a mix of the rich colours of hip hop
inflected analogue electronica with touches of the shimmering neon synths of late 70’s early 80’s Kosmiche music.
It’s warm and organic with a languid, pastoral grace that intertwines acoustic and rock instruments with electronics.
Their tracks twist through prog rock’s structures and sounds, occasionally making sharp turns into noisier, tense post
rock territory.
Check the way ‘Trans Waterfall’ gently builds from its synth lead melody through passages of tense guitar building into
gentle acoustic guitars and flutes. Or the way ‘Photo Negative Living’ rolls along dreamily on a 4/4 beat before the slicing
guitar riffs crash in. This is gorgeous stuff.
On Side B, 'Crystalline' gets a remix by Letherette which deconstructs the original and spins it through a head nodding
hip hop remix, whilst Werk records star ‘Lone’ gives ‘Twin Stars’ off the album a pulsing, atmospheric, upbeat Detroit
techno influenced rub.
TRACKLIST: A: TRANS WATERFALL, PHOTO NEGATIVE LIVING , INNER SUNSHINE B: KILL ON, CRYSTALLINE
(LETHERETTE REMIX), TWIN STARS (LONE REMIX)
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