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Review Summary: Great performing. Little ingenuity. What would come of Solterra post songwriter and lead guitarist Tanner's departure? After nearly a year and a half, here is the new LP, Future Man, introducing the new guitarist Graham Zander. Would he change the guitar riff heavy, busy drumming sounds that the past listeners of Solterra have become accustomed to?
Welcome the Future, Man of Solterra.
When I start an album I often try to digest what the album artwork has to offer, as they tend to coincide with themes within the album. Here we have the cool splattered shades of blue with the title, Future Man, and band name, Solterra, in white displaying emotions as bleak, stark, and clean. There stands two men, one clean shaven, in business formal attire seemingly unfazed that he is being held at gunpoint by a man, grizzled and dirty. Unaware seems to be the key here being purposeful or not, it fits well.
Delving into the album I get to the first track which shares the title with the album "Future Man". Atonal sounds begin this track with no direction, suddenly BAM we get heavy, fat, and distorted guitar chords. A singing high guitar melody squeezes through this wall of sound, a sound very reminiscent of the band Chiodos. That ends abruptly. A quick moving bass riff comes through the wreckage. That ends abruptly. Enter a Buckethead like guitar solo. That ends abruptly. Wait now we are in a jazz fusion section, diminished 9s and bass drum ostinatos and all. This flows really well nice guitar tones. Wait now we jump back into that Chiodos style. Wait never mind, we are back to the jazz fusion showing what the new guitarist can bring to the table. This is where a problem arises.
Chris Dreiling does an excellent job at producing this album. His unique mixing style allows for all of the instruments to stand on equal ground. No one seems to be playing a supporting role in this soundscape. The members of Solterra are oozing with potential and with this amazing self production, nothing is stopping them. The talent is there, the sound is there, so what is missing?
Future Man has no idea what it wants to be. Is this a jazz fusion album, or a progressive post rock album? Now some of you might be asking; why am I saying "or" instead of "and"? Certainly music can be a blend of different styles creating a new one, but Future Man does not blend at all. Nearly every song seems to consist of two separate entities, cut up, placed next to each other, and placed under the same title. The lack of coherence does not sit well with the listener at all. Both of the styles have their own amazing heights and achievements throughout the album, but it has the same feeling as reading two books at the same time, while only reading snippets of the best parts.
The lack of form defeats this album.
Future Man feels forced, almost that it was trying to meet criteria, maybe that of a theory class homework assignment. With new jazz fusion music it is hard to ride the line between unique and pretentious and Future Man, at times, feels to fall on the pretentious side. The overuse of certain modalities and chords comes off as tacky, nearly being a parody of jazz fusion. One might say as though jazz has a certain quality of being soulful and grooving whereas this feels artificial.
But...
If I go back to the album art and the idea of the future, this may have been all intentional. The idea of two worlds, artificial and natural, being forced into one. The business man completely lost of his soul, unaware of his surroundings, just taking it in without asking questions. The underground man trying to convince him of what reality is and to not succumb to this new idea of the future. Songs put together without a care in the world for natural form and genuine songwriting. Robots placing together the music of old in a haphazard fashion to create the music of the future. If this was the case, then it does achieve this amazingly well.
Unfortunately for Solterra, it is not the Future and I am a human listening to this in the present. I am still caught in the old fashioned way of enjoy soulful music that has natural form and growth.
It is not the Future, Man... yet.
| other reviews of this album |
Lummypix (2)
Solterra: A band with potential that lacks the spark that could really make them stand out....
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Wow, this was an incredible read. Pos'd. Maybe deserving of a feature too when we get to the release date
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
Damn, I'm surprised to see a review of this, let alone TWO. Guess I don't have to write one anymore, you
summed up much of my feelings about this album pretty well. Not sure I'd rate it as lowly though, it's quite
enjoyable, even if it has NOTHING on Umbra which is my favourite album or all time.
This review is indeed impressive, I like your little one-sentence breaks.
Much of their unique sound is gone which is a massive shame, though they are like you said very talented
musicians.
Here's the album stream: http://solterra.bandcamp.com/
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
Great review. I was not crazy about this on the first listen at all. 2.5 seems about right.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
It's almost like someone's out to get Solterra, two very negative reviews on the same day at the same time, the day after it's released...
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it's weird that both the reviews were written by brand new users that have only written one review each
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regardless, well written review
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
That is peculiar, but there is nothing to gain from relentlessly bashing a small instrumental band from
Colorado. I was just trying to give the most sufficient review to the album. The other reviewer and I share
similar views, so I think it is just a common view of what the album is. I have nothing but respect for
musicians and songwriters that share their music.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
Twlichty - what are your opinions on the album? It'd be interesting to hear
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
really didn't enjoy this, reminds me of when the human abstract released midheaven
messy songwriting
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
I don't have that much of a problem with the messiness, it's more the blandness, they just sounds like every other post rock band ever
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Hey Sputnik Users,
I first want to start by saying that I am not a Sputnik user. So forgive me for this being my first comment on this site.
We wanted to put our new record on Sputnik because we received great feedback from Umbra, and we figured you guys would like to keep up with what we are up to, with Tanner or without.
What we didn't anticipate, however, was to be trolled.
The fact of the matter is our new record is being bashed and poorly rated by (at the time of this post) 7 different users, whose profiles were created within the last 3 days (at the time of this post, December 5th, 2014), and their only reviews, ratings and comments are on our record. And they are not favorable.
I'm not writing this to resent bad reviews; constructive criticism can only make musicians stronger. To those legitimate folks that gave us poor ratings: that is fine, if you don't like our record, you don't like our record, and we appreciate your honest feedback. What is not fair, however, is that someone is deliberately trying to diminish this record that we have put an immense amount work into.
All we ask is that you listen to this record without preconception of rating or review, and that you please have an open mind. We honestly respect and admire those who listen to us, and we wish to receive real, actual feedback from our fans.
Thanks.
Chris
Bassist for Solterra
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Is this serious?
We're open minded enough to listen for ourselves and I thought this review, in particular, backed up its point very well
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Yes, and I agree that this review had valid points, but who authored it?
I find it quite peculiar that a new user to this site is so knowledgable about our band. Why would seven different people join this site for the sole purpose of giving our record a bad rating?
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
Chris, I listened to Future Man several times through and responded to it. There are trolls on the internet, but there was no reason for me to not be completely genuine in my review. Yes, I am aware that my review had a negative response towards the album, but that is what I experienced.
I am new to posting on Sputnik, but I have lurked here for quite awhile. I really enjoyed SES and Umbra so I figured I would lose my virginity and write a review about Future Man. You can think whatever you want about my intentions, but maybe...just maybe... that is how I felt about the album.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
And to note, I am knowledgeable about Solterra because prior to writing the review, I did some research.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
Not sure where you're getting that 7 from - I've been on this site for over two years, similar to Scoot, DissolvingAtom and RadicalEd, and am a massive fan of the band. This record really does not stand up to Umbra, but you've still got talent and potential to do better should you make your sound more unique
All the best to the band, but learn to take criticism better perhaps
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Mad- 4 of the bad ratings from the new profiles have been removed. So thanks for being honest, whoever was doing that.
As I said, we are not opposed to criticism. We actually welcome it. We just want the criticism to be from real people that we can actually benefit from.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
Ah cool
I'm a real person ;)
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
I'm fake. Actually I'm the Ghost of Christmas Past.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
"Bah humbug" or however it's spelled
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