Chris Forsyth – Solar Motel Review

Chris Forsyth is an American psych rock guitarist much admired by myself for his dabblings in drone and general guitar badass-ery. In my review of his previous full length, Kenzo Deluxe, I noted that Forsyth was essentially returning the guitar to some past glory, shedding it of the threadbare stereotype engendered by cock-rock’s (along with many other genres) self-indulgence and reverting it to an instrument of experimentation, where many of the older guitar based genres, especially blues, rear their head at one time or another. A year later I discovered Solar Motel, which was released on October 29th. One of the notable factors is that it abandons the stripped down atmosphere of its predecessor and instead includes a full band. It certainly moves in a more rock fuelled trajectory, as though Forsyth was tracing the evolution of the guitar. That’s not to say that the music has evolved into something cheap and unrefined. The album bears more resemblance to his earlier work such as Paranoid Cat and in fact it’s recorded by the Paranoid Cat Band, although they’ve since been rebranded as The Solar Motel Band. It was this line-up, featuring Peter Kerlin on bass, Mike Pride on drums and Shawn Hanson on organs and keyboard, who accompanied Forsyth in his electrifying performance supporting Grouper two years ago, which is a great sign for me as this was what first introduced me to Forsyth’s music. Aside from the more full sound it accomplishes, it’s hard to claim that the album is too much of a departure from previous releases. Forsyth’s guitar work, the way he intones the notes and the general style of his fills is familiar as ever. The album is pretty much what one would expect from Forsyth, four slabs of slow burning brilliance, which balances intricacy of detail in his playing with jamming out and making some catchy tunes. Forsyth has a style of writing not much different from television show Curb Your Enthusiasm, in writing an outline for his tracks, one which the band, by design deliberately treats with little reverence. This improvisational mode is pretty clear throughout, with the repetitive drum patterns driving the music along forming a base which the other instruments evolve over and signalling the major changes, and this form of production allows one foot in improvisation and one foot in performing a predetermined piece, which allows a spirit of spontaneity without the jams getting too unfocused although the album closer ‘Part IV’ is totally improvised and doesn’t suffer much from it, although for my money it’s the weakest track on the album, but having said that it’s the most drone-y, eschewing the drums in favour of a more amorphous format. To truly appreciate Chris Forsyth’s music, careful listening is required, as it’s all about the subtle build up, with incremental evolutions in the guitar part with each motif, although it’s hard not to argue that the organ and/or keyboard plays just as much of a role here, for example opener ‘Part I’ sees them trading leads in its sumptuous buildup. ‘Part I’ is definitely my highlight, particularly a rather rousing guitar part around the 4 minute mark. From the outset, ‘Part II’ gives out a slight krauty vibe, reminding me of his work with Koen Holtkamp not to mention suggesting some of Forsyths influences such as Popul Vuh. ‘Part III’ similarly posesses quality, in the form of a familiar ‘Paranoid Cat’-esque build-up that uses the drums sparingly and culminates in some classic Forsyth tremolo. The album as a whole possesses the usual experimentation and there is much to hear for existing fans, but the Solar Motel has a lot more that will please the casual listener than previous releases so fans and non-fans alike should really check it out because, as usual with Forsyth, it’s not to be missed.