DSE was intrigued by SOLO's sound, and decided to question him about his recent Daytime EP and Sympathy single.
Denim Solves Everything: Your new single, Sympathy, is making waves for its simplistic, yet meaningful, melodies and interweaving of ethereal layered synth work and guitar chords. What is the lyrical message of this track, and can we look forward to a full album to follow?
Solo: The lyrics are actually a dialogue between me and a girl who has just come out of a bad relationship. Its about her spending time with me, but it's not particularly going anywhere despite being very romantic. So I don't know how much I should really involve my heart. Hence the "tell me where my heart is line" from me.
"I'll waste an hour or two Spending my time with you It will start and end with a kiss Tell me where my heart is" Is me talking to the girl.
The "And I'll waste a broken smile or two Spending all my time with you..." Is from the girl to me.
"Leaving space so our broken hearts can breath." We aren’t getting too involved to stopping each other from getting hurt again.
The girl then says, "I need you more than sympathy". Her and I being together helped her and healed her more than people feeling sorry for her could ever do.
I’m currently pulling ideas together and thinking of a concept for an album. I have started recording other songs. However these may be used as demos to re-record in a studio.
DSE: This is not your first foray into music, however: your Daytime EP, which encompasses a hefty five songs, is a wonderfully constructed journey through dreamy soundscapes. The opener, Morning Daze, feels optimistic and includes a bit of hazy desert psych guitar as well. In your opinion, is it better to grab hold of the listener with an album starter, or let the audience simply take it in?
Solo: Personally I think that it should grab the listener. It doesn't need to be loud, however I think an opener should evoke an emotional reaction and set up the rest of the album/EP. It shouldn't give everything away about the album and should leave some mystery. That'y why I made this song uplifting, to make the start of the journey feel good straight away, but also hazy and slightly psychedelic, just to intrigue the listener.
DSE: The next track, Lovers, resembles a tune from 70's troubadours America, focusing primarily on breezy acoustic guitar. This raises the question: what made you want to bridge the gap between synthesizer and acoustic guitar?
Solo: The acoustic guitar is a sound that everyone is familiar with. It's full of warmth and very versatile sonically. I use it in a way that is uncommon, to loop and layer it like it is a sample. This gives the song repeating waves of emotion and flourishes. I take guitar lines and think about them as if I was making electronic music, everything interweaving and locking into place. For me, it seemed natural and interesting to try and do the opposite with the synth, a completely electronic instrument. I find an artificial subtle synth sound with the most feeling and do a take for the whole song. It's like I'm playing along with it. This means that the synth feels kind of loose and bit more human within the tracks. It's an almost unnoticeable difference musically compared to if I had done it another way, however, the overall sensation you get from the song has changed.
DSE: Times Have Changed follows, and has a country canter and twang to it, but then turns into a sentimental ballad, which is in sharp contrast to the next song, Alone Tonight, which features a underlying dance beat, frenetic guitars, and harmonious choir-like vocals. Your songs have the ability to convey a vast spectrum of emotion, from Times' tones of inevitable endings and new beginnings, to Alone's whimsicality and quandary. What is the most powerful emotion that one can send a message with, for you?
Solo: I don't think it is either love nor hate. Those emotions burn hot in a very primal way and can change quickly. I feel emotions like heartache and nostalgia are more powerful. They don't always send a message, but these are emotions that feel like a very solid, dull ache, unlikely to change quickly or ever. Love and hate are emotions that you feel with your whole body and are very easy to express physically, however, heartache and nostalgia are confusing and you are extremely passive and helpless to those emotions. Especially when it comes to expressing them. I guess I personally express it through my music. You can be happy with heartache and be hopelessly in love, but you can also feel the most depressed and unsatisfied you've ever been out of longing for someone, or the past. This is why there's a vast spectrum of emotion.
DSE: Almost as much as Morning Daze is an awakening, you cleverly end the EP with Dream of Love, which feels otherworldly and lucid. What is the message of the Daytime EP?
Solo: My Daytime EP is a journey through the day. Morning Daze is meant to be hazy, like waking up and feeling contempt with life. Lovers represents a bright midday, Times Have Changed starts off as a country-esque, 'sunny afternoon' kind of song, then the sun sets and evening comes with Alone Tonight. Dream of Love is a lullaby at night. The EP is also about getting over a girl. After the first track a sense of longing really sets in, but with each track, I'm lyrically convincing myself that I am getting more over this girl. In Lovers, I still want the girl to "Come to mine" and "Hide under the covers, like two lovers in love", in Times Have Changed I say I'm sorry, I don't miss them, and in Alone Tonight, I just let the girl drive off home, and out of my life romantically. Dream of Love is about a new crush with it's own issues, however, I end up drawing a lot of similarities between the new crush and the girl I got over previously. Daytime, to me, is a dreamy, juxtaposing and pleasurable journey into a lot of dissatisfying emotions.
You can listen to both the Daytime EP and Sympathy at:
Denim Solves Everything: Your new single, Sympathy, is making waves for its simplistic, yet meaningful, melodies and interweaving of ethereal layered synth work and guitar chords. What is the lyrical message of this track, and can we look forward to a full album to follow?
Solo: The lyrics are actually a dialogue between me and a girl who has just come out of a bad relationship. Its about her spending time with me, but it's not particularly going anywhere despite being very romantic. So I don't know how much I should really involve my heart. Hence the "tell me where my heart is line" from me.
"I'll waste an hour or two Spending my time with you It will start and end with a kiss Tell me where my heart is" Is me talking to the girl.
The "And I'll waste a broken smile or two Spending all my time with you..." Is from the girl to me.
"Leaving space so our broken hearts can breath." We aren’t getting too involved to stopping each other from getting hurt again.
The girl then says, "I need you more than sympathy". Her and I being together helped her and healed her more than people feeling sorry for her could ever do.
I’m currently pulling ideas together and thinking of a concept for an album. I have started recording other songs. However these may be used as demos to re-record in a studio.
DSE: This is not your first foray into music, however: your Daytime EP, which encompasses a hefty five songs, is a wonderfully constructed journey through dreamy soundscapes. The opener, Morning Daze, feels optimistic and includes a bit of hazy desert psych guitar as well. In your opinion, is it better to grab hold of the listener with an album starter, or let the audience simply take it in?
Solo: Personally I think that it should grab the listener. It doesn't need to be loud, however I think an opener should evoke an emotional reaction and set up the rest of the album/EP. It shouldn't give everything away about the album and should leave some mystery. That'y why I made this song uplifting, to make the start of the journey feel good straight away, but also hazy and slightly psychedelic, just to intrigue the listener.
DSE: The next track, Lovers, resembles a tune from 70's troubadours America, focusing primarily on breezy acoustic guitar. This raises the question: what made you want to bridge the gap between synthesizer and acoustic guitar?
Solo: The acoustic guitar is a sound that everyone is familiar with. It's full of warmth and very versatile sonically. I use it in a way that is uncommon, to loop and layer it like it is a sample. This gives the song repeating waves of emotion and flourishes. I take guitar lines and think about them as if I was making electronic music, everything interweaving and locking into place. For me, it seemed natural and interesting to try and do the opposite with the synth, a completely electronic instrument. I find an artificial subtle synth sound with the most feeling and do a take for the whole song. It's like I'm playing along with it. This means that the synth feels kind of loose and bit more human within the tracks. It's an almost unnoticeable difference musically compared to if I had done it another way, however, the overall sensation you get from the song has changed.
DSE: Times Have Changed follows, and has a country canter and twang to it, but then turns into a sentimental ballad, which is in sharp contrast to the next song, Alone Tonight, which features a underlying dance beat, frenetic guitars, and harmonious choir-like vocals. Your songs have the ability to convey a vast spectrum of emotion, from Times' tones of inevitable endings and new beginnings, to Alone's whimsicality and quandary. What is the most powerful emotion that one can send a message with, for you?
Solo: I don't think it is either love nor hate. Those emotions burn hot in a very primal way and can change quickly. I feel emotions like heartache and nostalgia are more powerful. They don't always send a message, but these are emotions that feel like a very solid, dull ache, unlikely to change quickly or ever. Love and hate are emotions that you feel with your whole body and are very easy to express physically, however, heartache and nostalgia are confusing and you are extremely passive and helpless to those emotions. Especially when it comes to expressing them. I guess I personally express it through my music. You can be happy with heartache and be hopelessly in love, but you can also feel the most depressed and unsatisfied you've ever been out of longing for someone, or the past. This is why there's a vast spectrum of emotion.
DSE: Almost as much as Morning Daze is an awakening, you cleverly end the EP with Dream of Love, which feels otherworldly and lucid. What is the message of the Daytime EP?
Solo: My Daytime EP is a journey through the day. Morning Daze is meant to be hazy, like waking up and feeling contempt with life. Lovers represents a bright midday, Times Have Changed starts off as a country-esque, 'sunny afternoon' kind of song, then the sun sets and evening comes with Alone Tonight. Dream of Love is a lullaby at night. The EP is also about getting over a girl. After the first track a sense of longing really sets in, but with each track, I'm lyrically convincing myself that I am getting more over this girl. In Lovers, I still want the girl to "Come to mine" and "Hide under the covers, like two lovers in love", in Times Have Changed I say I'm sorry, I don't miss them, and in Alone Tonight, I just let the girl drive off home, and out of my life romantically. Dream of Love is about a new crush with it's own issues, however, I end up drawing a lot of similarities between the new crush and the girl I got over previously. Daytime, to me, is a dreamy, juxtaposing and pleasurable journey into a lot of dissatisfying emotions.
You can listen to both the Daytime EP and Sympathy at:
https://soundcloud.com/solosolosolo