Tag: Jenny Newman

Review – Solstice – Clann – by John Wenlock-Smith

Solstice are currently on a noticeably upward trajectory and this new album from the veteran proggers certainly agrees with that statement as it isa most uplifting and positive album of some very fine music indeed.

The album has a mere six tracks (if you include the bonus), all around the 5 or 6 minute duration, along which there is a near fourteen minute epic in Twin Peaks.

The overall impression is that Solstice have found a rich vein of inspiration that they are digging deep into. In this instance that vein is a very uplifting and joyful one, maybe it’s a response to the current tough times in which the world finds itself with  global madness on the geopolitical stages and an almost demented leadership that seems to be looking after the rich and ignoring everyday folks. This promotes division and accelerates discord while throwing out all the mechanisms that help govern. Onto this disquieting stage steps Solstice and this album that instead of moaning offers the listener a very uplifting escape from all that misery, instead offering some really positive sounds of joy that extoll gratitude and promote an air off togetherness. Even it’s title, ‘Clann’, speaks of building a team of togetherness and family or clan.

The opening track is Firefly, which sets the tone for the whole album, starting with a very upbeat synthesiser line and with the surging vocals of Jess Holland, who has a very distinct and clear voice which, when blended with the rest of the band, sounds extremely fine and very strong. Above all of this lies the splendid violin of Jenny Newman which is the icing on this exceptional cake. Andy Glass’ guitar lines weave magic everywhere, bringing the music together tightly. Andy is a fine player who is extremely melodic in style. There’s no wonder why he won this year’s Prog Magazine award so convincingly! Life, again, has a jaunty melody that accompanies the music, the song having both a looseness and a sparseness to it that works in a  most attractive manner. There’s a lot happening throughout its six plus minutes duration as it builds in its intensity with Andy’s liquid guitar lines providing a great sonic tapestry of textures and sound. Plunk is a very funky number with a strong rhythmic drive and fine organ sounds. It is played in an unusual time signature which adds to its effectiveness, as does the brass embellishments that are employed during the song. This track is definitely a punchier little number that would work well live, I’m sure. An excellent guitar solo from Andy further enlivens things significantly, his playing whilst flashy and furious, is just right for the track as he doesn’t overplay it but it all works for the maximum impact of the song.

Frippa has more than an element of 1980’s King Crimson to it, especially in the main guitar riff. This track also benefits from the versatile and athletic violin of Jenny Newman who dances all over it, blending in well with both the angular guitar work by Andy and excellent keyboard work of Steven McDaniel. The precise drums of Peter Helmsley and the subtle yet strong bass lines from Robin Phillips are mightily impressive and when this dynamic rhythm section combines with the sweet, clear vocals of Jess Holland and backing vocalists of Ebony Buckle and Dyane Crutcher, you are a totally compelling and captivating close. The epic Twin Peaks has nothing to do with the David Lynch series of the same name, rather this is a sprawling track that works on every level with its gradual building and brooding intensity and sweet violin lines. It is a journey that keeps you enthralled throughout its near fourteen minute duration. There is not a moment wasted or surplus to it, it really works as an extended showcase for all that is good about the fine band and this great album. The bonus track Earthsong is a revisitation of a song that appeared on the first Solstice album ‘Silent Dance’ from 1984, here it is given a 2024 treatment by the current incarnation of the band. It opens with ringing guitar tones from Andy and some subtle bass lines from Robin, as I’ve never heard the debut version I can’t comment on this reworking except to say that it fits in well with the rest of the album and a delicate yet dynamic vocal from Jess works well and brings the album to a stately finale.

To be honest, what I like about this album is that it makes you happy, it’s upbeat and uplifting and, in a time where all we read and hear is downbeat, it’s great to have something that lifts you up, for a while at least! This album does that across its six tracks. Remember when music was a source of joy for you? Well, this music returns that feeling to you and so it is highly recommended from here.

This is a great album from a band who have weathered many storms and difficult times and seasons to re-emerge stronger, bolder and with much to offer in today’s world. I have no hesitation in commending this most wonderful release from Solstice.

Released 4th April, 2025.

Order the album here:

https://essentials.progrock.com/product/solstice-clann

Coloured vinyl here:

https://fairsound.com/product/solstice-clann-rusty-red

Black vinyl here:

https://fairsound.com/product/solstice-clann-black

UK Progressive Rock group Solstice announce 8th studio album, Clann, due on April 4th, 2025.

Voted Best Band in Prog magazine’s latest annual Reader’s Poll.

Solstice are pleased to announce the release of their 8th studio album, Clann, on  April 4th, 2025 through specialist US label Progrock.com Essentials.

Voted Best Band in Prog magazine’s latest annual Reader’s Poll, and arriving on an exuberant wave of positivity created by previous albums Sia (2020) and Light Up (2022), both widely acclaimed within the prog community and beyond, Clann completes the most recent phase of Solstice’s 40-plus year career. As band founder, composer, and guitarist (winner of Prog magazine’s most recent Best Guitarist Prog Award) Andy Glass explains, “[Sia] made me realize the potential and by the time we were working on Light Up the whole band had raised its game. I believed then that a trilogy of albums was what it would take to create our best work and track that journey. Clann is the final album in the Sia Trilogy and it’s everything I’d hoped it would be. Let’s hope the universe likes it too.”

As Solstice keyboardist Steven McDaniel laughingly confesses “It’s terrifying to be in a band this good!” Boasting the same line-up since 2020, the members of Solstice channel their impressive individual talents to create music that melds elements of hi-intensity prog-folk, soaring new age, fragile ambiance, fresh funky pop-rock with world music leanings, and fist-pumping heavy rock jubilance, demonstrating a sophisticated, multifaceted modernity while retaining transcendent timeless qualities. A lauded singer-songwriter in her own right, Ebony Buckle, backing vocalist and now solid member of the Solstice family, reflects, “I love how these new songs feel like they’ve always existed.”

Enjoying both an artistic and commercial rebirth over the past 5 years, Solstice owe much to the addition of young singer Jess Holland in 2020, who brought with her not just a clear emotive voice that communicates both stridency and tenderness with equal ease and charm, but a beguiling energy that has directly impacted everyone in the band. As Andy Glass is eager to explain “Sia was our first album with Jess and what a total game changer that was. I’ve felt incredibly motivated and inspired ever since. Since then I seem to have this relentless appetite to take this music as far as we can. There’s nothing quite like feeling that kind of drive.”

Recorded both in a variety of recording studios and by individual band members at home, Clann includes a first in the band’s career with the track Plunk which features a brass section recorded at the beautiful Grand Chapel Studio in Toddington, Bedfordshire. Glass admits that “there might be a bit of a Big Big Train influence there somewhere!”

Clann manages to cover a great deal of musical ground in its nearly 40-minute running time. Firefly opens up proceedings and will be familiar to many already through its airing at numerous gigs and its inclusion on both the band’s Live At The Stables and Return To Cropredy releases. Its pulse-pumping energy, hard-edged yet infectious grooves, whirling bursts of synth and violin and its glorious guitar solo lift the spirit and sweep us into Solstice’s mesmerizing world. Elsewhere Life delivers smooth, soulful, modern pop with an elegant dance-friendly heart and Plunk is taut swaggering funk in 7/8 with brass stabs and a left-field, gritty guitar solo. Frippa is built on an urgent, bluesy Crimson-esque riff in 5 and spotlights organ, violin and even more incendiary guitar. Final track, the 14-minute Twin Peaks, in some ways harks back to what prog polymath and longtime Solstice fan Steven Wilson once described as the band’s “spacey and spacious” early material – it’s gentle, reflective and airy with pastoral, folky strains, yet builds into a soaring expression of rapturous celebration and spiritual freedom. 

Lyrically, the album continues established Solstice themes of love, joy, peace, harmony and acceptance, yet Clann admits that not everything in the garden is always rosy. Although longing for some ultimate redemption, both Plunk and Frippa feature a level of reproach for unidentified liars and cheats with Plunkeven exercising some wry schadenfreude at the downfall of the song’s antagonist.

Check out the video for the first single “Firefly” here:

Solstice will be supporting the release of Clann with a strings of live dates including festival appearances in the UK, Europe and north America. The band’s live work has been fundamental to their growing popularity with a wide audience demographic. Always more than just a magical musical experience, the band’s gigs are consistently celebratory, invigorating, warm hearted and a lot of fun. The live work has fed directly into Andy Glass’s writing – “One of the joys of this beautiful band is the energy on stage… and that’s definitely played into the writing for this album. I only need to think about the gigs to imagine the possibilities and for the ideas to start forming.”

Pre-order ‘Clann’ here:
CD: https://essentials.progrock.com/product/solstice-clann/

Colored Vinyl: https://fairsound.com/product/solstice-clann-rusty-red/

Black Vinyl: https://fairsound.com/product/solstice-clann-black/

Clann Track List
1.Firefly
2.Life
3.Plunk
4.Frippa
5.Twin Peaks

All songs written by Andy Glass

Solstice line-up
Andy Glass – Guitars, backing vocals
Jenny Newman – Violin
Pete Hemsley – Drums
Jess Holland – Lead vocals
Robin Phillips – Bass
Steven McDaniel – Keyboards
Ebony Buckle – Backing vocals
Dyane Crutcher – Backing vocals

Formed in Aylesbury, UK, Solstice played their first gig at Berkhamsted Town Hall in early 1980. Although very much considered part of the early 80s British neo-prog movement, sharing stages with the likes of Marillion, IQ and Pallas, Solstice drew more on folk, folk-rock, neo-classical and psychedelic space-rock than most of their contemporaries. The band gained a small legion of devoted fans touring extensively, playing many notable venues such as The Marquee in London and The Friars in Aylesbury as well as at the prestigious Reading Festival in 1983. Although releasing self-financed cassette demos during this period, they didn’t record their debut studio album until 1984’s Silent Dance, before this chapter of the band’s career came to an end with Solstice splitting up in 1985. Over the next 20 years Solstice had long periods of inactivity peppered with one-off reunions, brief reformations and two further studio albums, New Life (1993) and Circles (1997), the latter featuring Clive Bunker from Jethro Tull on drums. The pressures of line-up instability, family life, other musical projects and the imperative of making a living proving more of a priority than keeping this particular band going.

With their re-mastered back-catalogue issued in 2007, Solstice enjoyed something of a renaissance, appearing live more frequently and going on to record a further two albums – Spirit in 2010 and 2013’s Prophecy. However, although the albums were well-received and a core fan-base persisted, there remained a sense that the band was treading water rather than moving forward in any meaningful way. Then, somewhat unexpectedly, everything changed in 2019 when Andy Glass, founder and sole surviving original band member decided he really wanted to record one more album. Looking at who might front the band, they settled on young singer and musician Jess Holland. This decision transformed the band’s fortunes in ways they could hardly have imagined. Prog magazine journalist Martin Kielty summed up the feelings of many when he opined that this led to “Solstice becoming the band they were always meant to be”.

With new album Clann set to complete a trilogy of albums begun with 2020’s Sia, Solstice have been busier over the last three years then they probably have been for the last couple of decades, playing numerous shows including high profile festival appearances at Glastonbury, Cropredy and Milan. Enjoying a level of acclaim and critical praise that surprises even the band themselves, Andy Glass almost has to pinch himself – “Suddenly there’s this out-pouring of creativity. We’re making music that’s as good as [anything] I’ve ever been involved in making. And people are responding to it. It’s absolutely extraordinary… I mean surprise doesn’t cover it. I never saw anything like this coming… and it feels incredible. It’s what’s driving me now having never been ambitious in the past.”