Writing back in July we introduced Western Sun, the then forthcoming EP by Houston‘s Solid Blood with lead single ‘All I Need’. A song in which, as we put it, “warmth and intimacy are shadowed by an awareness of the wolves at the door.” And now that the EP has been released via the good folks at Rue Defense, it’s clear that the single established the EP’s prevailing atmosphere perfectly.
Solid Blood is the solo project of Graham W. Bell, who has also played in the likes of Committeemen, Alexei Shishkin, Kinships and Hart & Hare, serving as a vehicle for him to share personal accounts of life between Houston and Brooklyn, as well as his time on the road. The result is an “amalgam of lived moments, both quiet and intense, that seek to make sense of the ordinary,” as the label put it, “and the state of the world on a more intimate scale.”
Opener ‘All I Need’ is the gateway into this style, unfolding with a sense of measured contemplation that is shot through with something darker, fear and disquiet clawing at the window, asking to be let in. “Bell looks to preserve the small details of life amid a wider unease,” we wrote in our preview, “carving out an introspective, inquisitive space in which we might shelter from the dire state of the world.” Following track ‘Beyond Belief’ moves from easygoing lulls to spikes of agitation, built on Bradford Krieger’s percussion and electric guitar which whips up into squally noise in the chorus. Fitting perhaps for a song that’s part paean to the thrills of New York City and part warning to the way they can wear you down to nothing.
‘Old Days’ is a shadowy post punk song, all wiry guitar and swaggering vocals, while ‘Right’ is perhaps the EP’s heaviest track, a bona fide rock song complete with crushing guitars and pummeled percussion. Closer and title track ‘Western Sun’ still has a healthy dose of crunch, but is altogether lighter on its feet, Bell’s vocals riding on the instrumentation’s propulsive current rather than enveloped by it. Say it quietly, but the release might just end on a hopeful note. Past mistakes and bad choices feel like chances to learn rather than sentences to future doom, and may perhaps work out for the best after all. “All hail the Western sun,” Bell sings, “I left you for someone / Didn’t know it at the time, didn’t wanna make you mine.”
Western Sun is out now via Rue Defense and available from the Solid Blood Bandcamp page.