Sol: A Series of Reflections
Integrated Records (42 mins)
From the very first track, ‘Call’, it’s clear that in Sol: A Series of Reflections, Joshua Hyde intents to deal more in atmospheres than explicit melodies, and certainly more than rhythms. This opening track consists of six-and-a-half minutes of extended accordion chords, which slowly become more complex and add more passing notes to resemble proto-melodies as the piece continues.
Melodies and rhythms do emerge over the course of the album, but the whole thing retains a thoughtful introspection and calm. The focus is on the sounds of the instruments just as much – and often more – than the music they can make. This connection is maintained right down to the extended decay and silence at the end of the last track. Hyde even includes descriptions of the instruments (all of which he plays himself) and his relationships to them within the album notes. Not that it’s all about ambience and timbre. Hyde does take a pleasant detour into jazz when he gets his hands on a baritone saxophone, which stands apart from the stark piano harmonics that accompany it on the track ‘Dialogue’.
Sol is a very good meditation on sound, although it feels a little as if it takes the whole album to build up to a climax that never comes.