Solar Motel cover

Solar Motel

Released

What do you call the kind of guitar rock where there’s a ton of jamming and improvisation but none of it feels like improvised music? Forsyth’s own Bandcamp page uses the phrase “guitar anti-heroics,” which I quite like. This is the first full band record Forsyth put out, and it begins in a sneaky way—with Forsyth looping his own guitar, as if he didn’t have a band. But he does! All four parts of this album revolve around one or two chords, tops. Maybe the model is “Sister Ray” or “What Goes On,” models of propulsion and change that have little use for traditional harmony and melody. Who needs it? Feedback, tho, is treated delicately and with respect. All unnecessary barriers to vibe have been eliminated. Just get in and ride.

Sasha Frere-Jones

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