Solare

The Story of the Moon

(self-released)

Record Review by Amber Henson

Solare’s new EP, The Story of the Moon, is only five songs long, but they’ve got you hooked.  You want more.  You say to yourself, “Hmm, I wonder what this three-piece could accomplish given more songs to show off?”

They’re comparable to The Flaming Lips, but really they go one step further—they’re a more approachable Flaming Lips.  Instead of thirty-minute tracks that are finished with a gong, Solare reminds you of the Lips, but in a miniature way.  Which isn’t to say they sound small; they certainly make a lot of sound for just three people, but they’re very neat and tidy with that sound.

The Story of the Moon starts out with an instrumental track.  You start to think of Smashing Pumpkins—lead singer Joshua Johnson has been a guitarist for former Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, so there is a connection—and, again, The Flaming Lips, but in the time it took me to write that sentence, the song is over.  So now you’re on to the title track, on which Johnson sounds so young, and even reminiscent of those bands that are all over MTV—except Solare are good.  Before I go further, let me say that the band has a female bassist and, yes, she’s hot.  I guess there’s some sort of law.  Also, the whole band has the same shoulder-length haircut.

On to track three, “Every Day,” which could almost be mistaken for a Weezer song, and then the great, paranoid-sounding “Your Backyard at Night,” which is like a modern-day cowboy song, full of mystic voices and falsettos.  But then it’s over, and you find yourself scrambling to find a piece of paper to write down their name to share with your friends while you start the EP all over again.