Stephen Solo is a genius

I would normally title a review about a new album with the album title, but given that Pii 3 is the final in an outstanding trilogy of exceptional pop music, I felt the need to declare loudly and proudly that Stephen Solo, AKA Stephen Farrell, is a genius.

I have suspected this for some time, however after revisiting Pii and Pii 2 back to back over the weekend and Pii 3 numerous times, I am confident that I have enough evidence to shout this to the world. Check them out to see if you agree.

Both of the first two albums have aged well. You notice and appreciate the layers, melodies, imagination, voice and lyrics more in time. Solo is certainly eccentric, but that is just part of his charm, listen to the trilogy and you'll find a deep, soulful, intelligent songwriter, musician, artist, arranger and producer.

The trilogy has songs that discuss and confront love, birth, parenthood, aspiration, reality - often grim, the use of humour to get by, getting older, relationships, escapism ... the way Solo portrays his thoughts, dreams, fears and the dark reaches of his mind is unique.

Crying Because from Pii

One of the most beautiful, fragile, tender and imaginative songs I know 

The Pii trilogy started with Stephen getting an iPhone and downloading all kinds of apps to create music. Freed from having to fund studio time to record he let his imagination and creative nature run riot, producing fragile beauties, cinematic wonders, synth sensations and clever craziness.

Some songs will jump out on first listen, others will reveal their true worth with patience, but dig deep and you’ll find Albarn-seque melodies, Beatles-y harmonies and sonic adventurousness.

You'll find out more about how Stephen writes and records in a forthcoming podcast interview I have planned with him. 

Photo by Brian Sweeney

On to Pii 3.

I Ate A Motorcycle was the lead single for the album. If the title doesn't generate your interest then the flow and melodies soon will. The way this song changes and flows from 2-minutes in is simply magical, the way Solo plays with the melody and phrasing, introducing sprinkling synths is joyful.

I am more than human

I am more than a machine

Suddenly Heaven has a stunning melody over an 80’s groove with Solo showing off all of his vocal powers. This is sensational, the song lifts and soars with ease. This is real grown up pop music with Solo admitting to himself and anyone listening that he loves time alone away from work, stress, family, bills and reality. If I'm backing up the title of this blog, then this song is near the top of my evidence.

I feel more human, when I get to be on my own

Storm Chaser is kind of psychedelic Flaming Lips with Freddie Mercury on vocals with the beautiful line when the thunder comes she'll chase the storm.

The song titled Sweetest Melody jumped to my attention as this is a guy who knows a melody. It is gentle, soothing, becoming Beatles-y, dreamy and like it could be from a musical. 

Reasons to Run is my current favourite from Pii 3. Solo’s ability to take a song on a new direction at ease is evident a number of times throughout this song, almost going into a rap at one point. It is magical inventive pop music and listen to that voice analysing change in a relationship but declaring;

I will always, always run to you

For the same old reasons

Hold Music continues a theme throughout the trilogy of Solo finding humour and art in every day frustrations. Music is his escape from reality, but he portrays reality in a Limmy-esque way at times.

The Beatles and The Beach Boys crossed with Gorillaz is my attempt to describe Something Like Nothing Like Love. I marvel at the structure, lead vocals and harmonies. Everything is Solo.

Stars on Tape is a fragile gem that seems to be sprinkled with magical fairy dust. It has a dreamlike quality, it could be a lullaby. It is utterly stunning.

Block Out The Sun begins with a piano melody that sounds instantly classic. This should be picked up for a film or TV show. My heart melts when Solo soars amidst Beatles-y backing vocals. This is 5 minutes that to me highlights how good Stephen Solo is. The way everything breaks down and takes a twist halfway through is again like something from a musical.

The Dark Web could be a title for a book, TV show or film. Here is the theme tune. Dark, experimental, crazy, but with yet another soaring chorus. There is another glorious change in pace in this song with a Drive style bass introduced. 

The closing The Digital Dead brought tears to my eyes on first listen, the way Solo revisits Behind Your Eyes is tender and gorgeous, singing about his son in the most beautiful way, before ending the Pii trilogy the way it began. The final melancholic melody will melt your heart.

And though sunlight kisses your hair

We are the digital, digital, digital, dead

Behind your eyes I'll be waiting

We are the digital, digital, digital dead

Stephen Solo is a genius. Assess the evidence.

The Pii trilogy is available digitally via all the usual platforms.

David Bowie Never Had To

One of the most pleasing things I have noticed in the Scottish music scene over the last few weeks has been a little bit of recognition for Pii 2, the second album by Stephen Solo, an artist I am incredibly fond of.

Readers of Is This Music? (another blog with a nod to Teenage Fanclub) voted Pii 2 second best album of 2017, The Herald highlighted Internet Song in their top 100 (17) songs of 2017, while Jock Rock also found Pii 2 to be second best album of the year.

Nothing crazy, but I know that it means a lot to Solo, an artist who recorded his debut album simply because he had found out how to use his iPhone and didn't need to limit himself to acoustic demos.

Solo hasn't even played two handfuls of shows in that time, so word of mouth is the way that his music gets known.

I've blogged about Solo a few times over the last couple of years;

Introduction and interview
The Pii 2 album launch at La Chunky
Pii 2 album review

Stephen is unique, using easily accessible and relatively cheap modern technology (his iPhone) to capture the songs, melodies and ideas that pour out of him on a regular basis.

The songs range from the gorgeous fragile Crying Because, to cinematic Soundtrack to Unfilmed, to Albarn-esque moments of beauty mixed with craziness, plenty of Beatles-y moments of homemade psychedelic wonder like Think Strange and LocoCoco and nods to Bowie, the harmonies of The Beach Boys, electronica via Kraftwerk to Hot Chip and even Scots comedian Limmy.

His 2 albums to date contain genuinely jaw dropping moments of sheer raw talent and imagination. No Pill For What I've Got and Secrets You Keep are spine tingling. And it is worth remembering that Solo no only wrote and played everything on these 2 albums, he recorded, mixed and produced it all as well - sometimes in his car, sometimes under the stairs and sometimes in the bathroom - even in the bath! Internet Song is so funny, captivating and catchy that is has recently prompted one fan to make a video for it.

There is one song on Pii2 that I listened to about half a dozen times in a row on first listen to the album. The talent, humour, cheek, imagination, stark reality and heartfelt plea to the artist who inspired it, the twist at the end, the little riffs.... David Bowie Never Had To is a quite incredible song, in fact it is more of a work of art.

As Glasgow celebrates the life of Bowie this weekend ahead of his birthday and anniversary of his passing, I thought I'd highlight this song that the great artist inspired. Stephen is a real Bowie fan and introduced me to Bowie's 80's classics Modern Love and Lets Dance.

Back to the song, that you can stream below. Pulsing electro synth and beats back Stephen Solo as he lists things that David Bowie Never Had To do;

Change kitty litter at 5am

Take out the bona after a gig still wearing his gig clothes

Switch to store brand breakfast serial for financial reasons

Carry a washing machine up 4 flights of stairs

Downgrade his home entertainment package because he is on a zero hours contract

Consider using his house keys as a makeshift weapon at a dodgy bus stop

Provide evidence of job searching for a job he doesn't want

Solo breaks off between verses for a glorious melodic and melancholic snapshot of his mind;

Don't want my own universe

But I'd be happy in my own little world

There is a lovely twist at the end as Solo finds himself having a conversation with Bowie from beyond his grave. I'll leave you to check that out yourself. Please do so and please check Solo's albums. He plays the Hug and Pint supporting The Gracious Losers at their single launch and I'm led to believe some friends will be joining him on stage to help recreate his incredible songs.

Pii 2

2016 was a good year for albums, I had a number of contenders vying for the 'accolade' of my favourite album of the year - in the end it was Pii by Stephen Solo that won through. An eclectic eccentric album recorded on an iPhone 6 taking in sublime Albarn-esque melodies, Boards of Canada soundscapes, a song that was like a Limmy sketch, imagination and experiments.

Pii 2 has also been recorded completely on an iPhone and it is a psychedelic, melodic, imaginative, crazy, melancholic beauty.

Check it out for yourself on Spotify.

The freedom of being able to record on the hop, not having to book or finance a recording studio and having a supportive label that has a ready made audience and is as interested in the people they work with as the music they release, allows experimentation and creativity - something sadly lacking from a lot of music these days.

Songs were recorded in the work car park, the living room, the laundry cupboard and one - the stunning No Pill For What I've Got in the bath.

Other standouts for me include LocoCoco, the sublime Think Strange, the fragile Secrets You Keep and the glorious flowing Slipstream. Then the closing quartet of David Bowie Never Had To (more on this later), iPhone psychedelia on Can't Wait, the aforementioned No Pill For What I've Got and the beautiful touching Bye Bye Song featuring Stephen's son.

Pii was written around the birth of Stephen's first son, Pii 2 around the birth of his second. This isn't a pattern he sees continuing, but he did take a unique approach to recording the 'difficult' second album - recording that, ditching it and then writing and recording the joyous 3rd 'comeback' album.

The debut album was released on a USB credit card, the follow up is out today on a USB cassette tape! You can also download from iTunes or stream on Spotify. If you like it, then buy a super cool USB cassette via www.lastnightfromglasgow.com

Internet Song starts off with a mood of clever insanity before verging off into dreamy gorgeousness. Solo (real name Farrell) can seemingly pluck a melody from thin air and when the chorus comes in it can take you somewhere special.

Feel like I'm glowing

When you're downloading

Feel like I'm floating

When I'm uploading

How does he do it? LocoCoco captures attention immediately, the melody, the voice, the backing vocals, the hooks - it does all seem effortless. Check the switch into this section of the song - sensational!!!!!

I'm tired

From feeling that I got nobody to talk to

I'm wired

From punching the clock cause it never stops

It never stops at all

A psychedelic guitar riff picked out over lush warm synth ushers in Think Strange. It is a gem. All of Stephen Solo's material is interesting and imaginative, but when it all really comes together it is incredibly special.

For a fleeting second I think of the bands selling their souls without a hope in hell of producing anything as gorgeous at this....and I laugh.... cause this guy is producing something as good as this on his iPhone 6! I've just listened to it 4 times in a row.

It's hard to admit when you're wrong about somebody

A dreamer in love with the dark

Hoping it will never come back

Farrell's love of being able to freely experiment when he has a moment to himself with his phone is joyfully expressed throughout the album. Mini Metal Girl is one of those moments where you think what goes on in this guys head? But in a good way.

I mentioned that Secrets You Keep is a highlight; Stephen singing over an acoustic guitar with just the odd little synth bubbling in the background is just gorgeous. And when he harmonises with himself it is pure Beatles.

I love you more with every secret you keep

I love you more with every cut that goes deep

David Bowie Never Had To is madcap genius. Farrell takes us into his world by comparing it to David Bowie's. I laughed out loud on first listen and then promptly listened a further 6 times to appreciate the humour, imagination, reality, songwriting and melodies.

David Bowie never had to carry a washing machine up 3 flights of stairs

David Bowie never had to downgrade his home entertainment package because he's on a zero hours contract

David Bowie never had to consider using his keys as a weapon at a dodgy bus stop

Don't want my own universe

But I'd be happy in my own little world

The song has a great twist at the end where Bowie joins in the conversation from the other side. Just listen to this - please. It is genius.

Can't Wait is home made psychedelia and then Farrell introduces another one of those magical moments from 2-minutes onwards. Flowing melodies and harmonies - sheer beauty.

I have friends who I always trust when it comes to music. So when my friend Craig asked me if I had heard Stephen's song No Pill For What I've Got then I knew it was going to be special. And it is. Recorded from the bath (which you can hear at the start). It has a sleep, dreamy, melancholy vibe with a beautiful melody and soulful reflective lyrics.

The album closes with Solo playing ukulele and singing to his eldest son about the colours of the planets of the solar system. It is a captivating insight into how music plays such a part of his life and evidence of how he can just come up with ideas and melodies with ease.

Order the incredibly cool cassette USB album from the online store (click just the album) or head to iTunes to download or Spotify to stream. Enjoy.

Introducing Stephen Solo

Introducing - Stephen Solo

Picture by Brian Sweeney

Stephen Solo is Stephen Farrell, Stephen Farrell is Stephen Solo. Music, words and melodies simply pour out of Stephen; every day, all of the time. Personally, I think he is a genius.

Stephen used to scribble things down, record things on a dictaphone, capture things at band rehearsals, spend hundreds of pounds on studio time, be elated when things worked and frustrated when things didn't. Being prolific is great in many ways, but by the time his band had rehearsed and recorded the songs, Stephen had dozens more to play with.

In 2015 Stephen got an iPhone6+. This is not a blog about an iPhone6+, it is about Stephen Solo. However the iPhone6+ plays an important part; leading to the creation and recording of Pii (short for Phone it in) that was released on Last Night From Glasgow earlier this year.

Pii may well be my album of the year. It is eclectic, eccentric, psychedelic, gentle, dreamy, beautiful, funny..... I hear elements of The Beatles, Talking Heads, Damon Albarn, Boards of Canada, Hot Chip......and Limmy.....and most importantly....Stephen.

Crying Because is one the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. You can watch the video at the end of this blog. Soundtrack To Unfilmed is a widescreen cinematic dream. Behind Your Eyes mixes the crazy with the sublime. There is so much going on in Pii, there is so much to love and as you'll find out from the interview below - there is so much freedom.

I had a wide ranging conversation with Stephen regarding the album and you can read all about Pii in Stephen's own words below. It makes me love and appreciate this wonderful album even more.

Pii on limited edition USB with extras 

Pii on Spotify

Pii on iTunes

Pii by Stephen Solo

Stephen

The phone stuff started with little experiments using iPhone and it's version of garage band. But it was too fiddly to use on a small screen, kind of a hassle. I've got over 400 phone demos on the dictaphone app and I'm always having to export them and the time it takes to go through ideas and make them real was just impossible.

I can always produce a fully formed and usually good idea by just doing it...it's like there is no writing involved. That's happened with the band a few times too and there's that magic moment when everyone combines without thinking.

I've always known I had the capacity to produce things in a 'throwaway' fashion and that it's always a little more enjoyable than 'working' on a tune. But I started doing it more when I got the bigger iPhone6+ and just that little screen and finger space led me to doing little videos and cartoons in the same fashion - quickly, intuitively and no thinking....once more it was more enjoyable than writing a script to a song.

Picture by Gary Sloan

The first app that got me into the zone was 'amimoog' which is a version of the classic moog synth and in just playing with a sound I'm usually already composing...if i find a sound I just get into it and see what it wants to do rather than thinking about what I want. I found certain apps can be linked to garage band through a separate program called 'audiobus' ad this acts the same way as if you were to plug in any instrument in a real studio and put it through the computer. There's always a bridge program to link things...so once I got that I had a look at what other apps could be linked together and essentially set up a virtual studio in my phone with a set up that I liked.

I got a few vocal effect apps including one that mimics the sound of specific microphones and a drum app called 'funk box' that emulates all the classic drum machines from the 80's. I find that if I get a beat I like and a synth or vocal sound set up, I'm into a song so fast that it writes itself.

Over a few nights I would wait until the wife and baby were in bed and just GO. I gave myself the rule of no writing, no stopping, no coming back to it. A tune had to be done in one session from start to finish or when I was tired or had to go to work and this instantly gave everything a special feel or sound.

Behind Your Eyes took me about 2-hours and was done sitting on the floor next to the plug point as the phone was charging. I did the vocal bent over with my head behind the couch so I wouldn't wake anyone up....I had the first verse beat and sound and set up the vocal effect and pressed record. The first words that came out of my mouth were the first take and that's what is on the album.

I then just got another sound and played some chords with a different feel and in the same way 'Behind your eyes, I'll be waiting' was the first thing to come out of my mouth. No idea where it came from but in retrospect it has a theme and means something to me now. Weird!

Behind Your Eyes - Stephen Solo

Freaks was in the same spot in the living room bent over as the phone as charging! Might even have been the next night. I was tickled pink.

Think Of The Stars was done in the office at work waiting on people arriving for a workshop. I did the chords first on the animoog and was thinking about The Beatles song Because. I then removed all the keyboards for the intro and gave it the shape...then people arrived at work and the song was stopped. I did the second half at home and just experimented not worrying about how it fitted. The end section is just me with acoustic and the closest thing lying around was a ninky none train from In The Night Garden, the kids show. It makes a cool sound when it drives around so I held it in one hand and the phone in the other and drove it around.

Tattoo Faced Man was done in the car during torrential rain after a school workshop in the East End. You can hear the rain hitting the car roof. The rain didn't stop for days and you can hear the same pelting rain at the end of When You're A Human as I did he vocal wandering around the house and standing at the open window.

Crying Because was done in one take and the entire song too me almost as long as it takes to listen to it... I went for a shower (it was first thing in the morning) and worked out backing vocals in the shower. So the whole thing was done in about an hour. This is a song about my little boy who used to cry all night. I was trying to imagine the baby monitor translating his cries.