New video right now
Solids are sharing their new music video for the Else EP single, “Blank Stare,” via Noisey, which can be viewed on YouTube. The illustrated clip, directed by visual artist Emilio Esteban, is “a disruptive visual attempt to burn down a house, save dogs, and end with a blank stare at the shore.”
Solids’ 2014 debut LP Blame Confusion (Fat Possum/Dine Alone) was lauded for its revved-up take on alt-rock from the early ’90s. Its poppy melodies set against a dense, relentless soundscape pointed to guitarist Xavier Germain-Poitras and drummer Louis Guillemette’s formative years in the hardcore scene.
Their forthcoming Else EP, out on Topshelf and Dine Alone Records on April 15, 2016, sees the band checking in after a year of near-endless touring. Having played more than 200 shows in 2014-2015 with the likes of Pity Sex, Makthaverskan, Nothing, PUP, Single Mothers and Metz, the EP reflects that road weariness with a group of songs that vibrate at a lower frequency. These tracks document the waiting, the bleary-eyed confusion and the blur of days that come with life on the road.
The EP serves as a melancholic deconstruction of the ’90s slacker ethos explored on their first LP. But it also charts Solids’ transition into a wider and more experimental sound, borrowing strands from Dinosaur Jr., Hum and Unwound and coiling them into an anxious, alienated sound that’s all their own. The final product is a snapshot of a band that’s travelled 5000 miles in 19 minutes; a band that’s chained itself to the road in search of inspiration.
And in case you were worried, even with their recent successes and ambitious new approach, Solids still jam econo. Whether they’re playing majors events like SXSW, CMJ, CMW, Osheaga, Pop Montreal, The Great Escape and Sled Island or in some packed and humid basement, Xavier and Louis sweat blood because they don’t know any other way to make music.
Else can be pre-ordered at http://tpshlf.co/tsr148
Solids EU / UK live dates:
05.25.16 – Oviedo, SP @ Lata de Zinc
05.26.16 – Donosti, SP @ Dabadaba
05.27.16 – Madrid, SP @ Get Mad Festival
05.28.16 – Barcelona, SP @ La [2] de Apolo
05.30.16 – Heerlen, NL @ Nieuwe Nor
05.31.16 – Rotterdam, NL @ Rotown
06.01.16 – Groningen, NL @ Vera
06.03.16 – Bordeaux, FR @ El Chicho
06.04.16 – Poitiers, FR @ Less Playboy Is More Cowboy
06.06.16 – London, UK @ The Old Blue Last
06.07.16 – Sheffield, UK @ The Picture House
06.08.16 – Brighton, UK @ The Hope & Ruin
06.09.16 – Oberhausen, DE @ Druckluft
06.10.16 – Leipzeig, DE @ Zoro
06.12.16 – Darmstadt, DE @ Ottinger Villa
06.13.16 – Prague, CZ @ Cafe V Lese
