Elliot Minor - Solaris Review

Posted by Daniel Wilcox on 10.23.2009

Classically-trained indy quintet Elliot Minor is back and looking to build on their success of their debut with sophomore effort Solaris.



Elliot Minor - Solaris
Review by Daniel Wilcox

Alex Davies – vocals, guitar
Ed Minton – vocals, guitar
Ed Hetherton – bass
Ali Paul - keyboard
Dan Hetherton – drums

Track listing:
1. The Dancer
2. I Believe
3. Electric High
4. Coming Home
5. Carry On
6. Solaris
7. Better Than the Courtroom
8. All Along
9. Discover (Why the Love Hurts)
10. Shiver
11. Tethered
12. Let’s Turn this Back Around

What we have here is a band from a ridiculously lavish background in York, England, who are classically trained and mix those classical elements with huge choruses to make fun pop rock songs. Despite not being on a major label, their first four singles had tremendous success in the UK charts and their debut album landed at number six on the Album Chart. Since then, however, the band signed to Warner Bros. who consequently dicked them around, resulting in singles from this new album, Solaris, not making any waves whatsoever. The band soon got sick of that and left their major label, and now they’re unleashing the follow up to last year’s Elliot Minor, the slightly less anticipated Solaris.

The album begins with a timid little rift accompanied by a melody played on keyboard that immediately showcases their classical training. “The Dancer” then gradually builds with the vocal coming in and that same gentle rift being repeated throughout as the song gathers pace until vocalist Alex Davies delivers the first catchy hook of the record. The track climaxes as guitars take over and the band simply rock out, Davies’ vocals getting bigger and bigger. The song represents a sound much more original than their previous record, and there’s the a pretty good guitar solo here, of which there are far more of on Solaris than the band’s debut. The track segues brilliantly into “I Believe,” which unfortunately falls into the trap of resorting back to a generic verse and uninspired musicianship in favor of bigger hooks and more melodic choruses. It does have another kick ass solo though, one of the best on the record. More often than not on this album, however, the band manages to combine the two and it makes for a delightful sophomore album that will unfortunately probably not get the attention that its predecessor did last year.

One of the album’s highlights is third single “Electric High,” which opens with a joyous riff, has a fantastic bridge as features some of the best vocal work on the record. Davies’ pleas of “Take me higher / Take me high / I wanna feel your essence come to life,” stay with you for a long time after the song has finished. It may not be the most accomplished track on the record but it’s by far one of the most memorable, at least partly because of the vocal work. Vocally, it’s noticeable how much Davies has come along in such a short space of time. He obviously has the same ability to hit some pretty big notes and sustain a solid vocal throughout, but he’s mellowed, in a way that allows him to portray emotions much better through his voice, and to a much lesser extent on this album does he sound nasally and whiney, a tendency he showed on the band’s self-titled debut.

The rest of the band does manage to keep up with him though, and then some. I’ve already mentioned the increased presence of the guitar work on this record. Both Davies and Ed Minton excel on the axe on Solaris, both performing memorable solos. The keyboard elements provided by Ali Paul, which were a highlight of their debut, are just as impressive as ever, if not more so. The drums are still somewhat lacking, and although some songs benefit from some solid work on the skins (“Solaris”), more often than not Dan Hetherton goes somewhat unnoticed. Similarly bassist Ed Hetherton goes completely missing on some tracks, but really I don’t know how much the songs could be improved with the addition of a few slick bass lines.

Some of the record's other highlights worth mentioning include “All Along,” which consists of just Davies’ vocals, which are near-flawless on this track, and Ali Paul on piano. “All along your intention was to run,” croons Davies melodically, in what is a beautiful track that probably should have closed the album for its epicness alone. “Discover” is another gem, opening with keyboards, bringing the vocal in and then rapidly moving up the gears before hitting one of the biggest choruses on the record, “Maybe if we discover why the love hurts, we’ll never want to leave.” Davies again does some great vocal work, the drums are there en mass and it’s simply a hell of a track that makes for a fantastic sing-along. “Tethered” deserves a mention too, if for no other reason that it was co-written by Andrew McMahon (Jack’s Mannequin).

Essential downloads: “The Dancer,” “Electric High,” “Solaris,” “All Along,” “Discover (Why the Love Hurts) and “Tethered.”

The 411: While the album has two or three tracks that don't quite resonate as much as they should, this is an album that has great vocals, great guitar work in places, big hooks, classical elements and some of the best sing-along choruses of the year. What's not to like? As I said, it's not impeccable, but it's a big improvement on what was already an accomplished debut. Had their major label promoted this right, at least on this side of the pond, this record could've been huge, but as it is, it's just going to be one of those forgotten gems come year's end.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]