Solano - Activation

[RTP]

Artist.....: Solano

Album......: Activation

Label......: Iono Music

Catalogue..: INM1CD045

 

Tracklist:

01. Last Forever

02. Fire Signs

03. Drive Through

04. Transpose

05. Triplehead

06. Qvist

07. Sequence

08. Activation

09. Unrestrained

 

Well, I'm really happy that I found this. It's supposedly already the 3rd album by Solano, but I never heard of them before, stumbled across this one by accident. But what I can say is, that it's very nice music. Actually it's great! I like the style very much. The music of Solano on this album is overall gentle and repetitive, while not in a bad way (being boring that would be), but in a smooth way. It softly guides the listener, does not put itself in the foreground like it's the case with many other acts nowadays. Sometimes you just wanna listen, have a good time and let the thoughts flow smoothly - Solano is ideal music for this. A psytrance Smoothie.

And altogether it gets me into something that I feel less and less in nowaday's music: trance! When I run to this (I really like to run to this), I get this effect I used to get in the early days: long tracks that let the thoughts wander transport you to somewhere until at some point the track has ended and you find yourself somewhere completely different, up to two kilometers away from the point where the song started. And it goes on and on, so gentle and steadily, like a long drive on a highway. I used to love this kind of stuff in the past with Human Blue tracks for example and various other scando trance. And this goes in a similar direction - very pleasant altogether

 

A track per track review doesn't make so much sense in this case imo, because this album seems to be more about consistency, about getting the listener into a trance state and tending to leave him/her there, not interrupting too much. The tracks all have the general characteristics to be long and gently entrancing, with a steady progression underneath. And loooong lasting synthesizer effects underlying. That said, I practically described half of the album already. Don't let yourself be fooled that it might be boring though, it isn't, just give it a go

 

I'll still try to comment the tracks nevertheless though:

 

I don't like the first track so much, it's a good starter but the melody is too present and doesn't give me any goosebumps for that. But this is a peek of the general atmosphere of the album.

Then, however, it gets going. Fire Signs is an awesome track, very long, but here is what I meant with the smoothness. It is repetitive, but it is gentle, warm, guiding, also the melody not being over-present, never forcing, always soft and nicely. And even though the main construction of the track does not change (much), it is awesome music. Music that just is.

The next track, Drive Through, is great aswell. It is probably the most powerful one on this album. An almost Matenda-esque (thinking of Pusher) intro, then it kicks and goes. Not much change, but that's not what it is about anyway. It is driving ("a Drive Through", hehe), but not raw, not exhaustive, only steadily and smoothly. You have the track, add a layer, add a layer, add a layer, there you are. The beat almost never stops - and when it does, it feels weird, like you heart makes a pause. Kind of. But that's just what trance is...

Next one, Transpose, is one of my favourites aswell. It has a different, more vibrant style (that doesn't mean the smoothness is gone though). And the acidic looping synth effect is reminding me of FLUKE. In fact, this almost could be a Fluke track. How cool, Fluke is one of my favourite bands ! And it really is that good. Also, what I like is that there is a characteristic percussion layer that reminds me of another, an old, trance song! A great demonstration how these effects can still be used in great ways.

The next songs continue the album in the same style, there is not so much to say anymore, stop reading, start listening ... but in brief: Triplehead is again a bit reminding me of the first one, but the melody is better. No highlight, but it's nice. The next song, Qvist, is again one that evolves greatly, Solano-like ( ) into a nice melodic piece. I like the melody in this one, gentle as always. And even slow in some way. Interesting. Next track, Sequence, nice as always. And then it's time for Activation, the title track - more drive again, but still, never getting loose, staying in its smooth boundaries, even though this one is more progressing and driving and even biting (for Solano's standards). And then the outro, Unrestrained, nice as it should be, no need to comment any more.

 

As said already, this album you don't buy because of specific tracks, but because of the style as a whole. It's good, I percieve that such integrated albums as this one are not produced that often. So I think it's a good recommendataion to check it out. Fans of scando trance and progressive will certainly like it. Fans of full blown in your face fullon or acid or dark or whatever psytrance will maybe not like it.

 

I can't be beaten to give a final score. It's nothing you need to die for, but it's a very nice album. I for my part am happy to have found Solano, because I was getting thin on this music in the style of 12 Moons, Human Blue, Matenda...

 

Would be interested how others see it