18 Feb 2019
Sola Rosa - Single review: Leave a Light On
03 May 2018 // A review by Darryl Baser
The man behind Sola Rosa, Auckland's Andrew Spraggon, has
returned with a tune as strong as anything he's released previously.
A steady bass groove wends its way around a thumping kick drum which is off-set by an excellently syncopated high hat, perfectly timed between kick and snare, to be on the 'and' of the phrase.
The bass keyboard is on the ‘one’ beat and high keys are on the three, adding to layers of syncopation.
This groove is so fat it could make a sumo look like the skinny kid in class.
Sola Rosa has been a mostly solo project for Andrew Spraggon since 1999, and on this tune he’s partying like it is Sola Rosa’s inception year.
Kevin Mark Trail, of UK band The Streets, adds a high soul tenor which soars over the sequences as the lead vocals, and which is beautifully accompanied be Kiwi powerhouse singer, LA Mitchell.
Best known for making seriously funky electronic music, Andrew Spraggon has been refining the Sola Rosa sound for two decades. Leave a Light On was recorded in Spraggon’s well kitted out home studio and is the first single from the forthcoming release called In Spaces.
Guitars include a beautifully fuzzed out lead melody and are provided by Matt Short and Dixon Nacey.
★★★★ (4 stars)
Review written by Darryl Baser
About Sola Rosa
First coming to local music-lovers’ attention as guitarist and vocalist for angular rock band Cicada in the 90s, over the course of the last 9 years Spraggon has been on the receiving end of a Tui (2001’s 'Solarized'), b-net awards (for 2000’s 'Entrance To Skyway' and 2003’s 'Haunted Out-takes'), and a bevy of other accolades and nominations as Sola Rosa, but there’s little doubt when pressing play on 2009's 'Get It Together' that it is his finest accomplishment to date. Taking in a wide swathe of genres, and walking an ever-erratic line between organic and electronic elements, Sola Rosa’s songs continue to pull off Spraggon’s patented trick of electrifying your ears while ensuring that your feet don’t get confused along the way. Three years in the making, 'Get It Together' is best differentiated from its predecessors by a more beat-driven, direct, dance-demanding sound.
Picking up where the performance-based 'Moves On' album left off in 2005, there’s a sweating, smoking live band at the heart of the new record, made up of long-term members of the Rosa roster - Will Scott (drums), Matt Short (bass), and Ben White (guitar). Spraggon studio sorcery has then come into play, tooling up 'Get It Together' for maximum dancefloor impact, and bolstering the album with a roll-call of vocalists, musicians, and compositional contributors running headlong into Sola Rosa’s sonic stirrings at full force – with vocal cuts from Spikey Tee (best known for his work with Jah Wobble, Bomb The Bass, Mark Rae and on some of Sola Rosa’s finest moments); German globetrotter, poet, and singer Bajka; UK MC Serocee; and emerging Wellingtonian songstress Iva Lamkum. Underpinning these outstanding lyrical performances and further illuminating the album’s instrumentals you’ll find an eclectic batch of collaborators that includes the likes of Victoria Kelly, Julien Dyne, Juse, Scratch 22, Hadyn Godfrey, John Highsted, James Duncan, and Miguel Fuentes (who’s played with Isaac Hayes, George Benson, Grover Washington, Patti La Bell and other luminaries).
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