#solilians

[nofatclips-home]

Old Schmeckled Hen by Solilians - Video by Gabriel Walsh

[nofatclips]

Stratoshmear by Solilians from the American Klezmische EP, release #2 in the In the Running series by I Heart Noise - Visuals by Ilya S

[nofatclips]

The Sisko by Skyjelly and Solilians for I Heart Noise - Video by Sharon Malkin and Gabriel Walsh.

[dustedmagazine]

Solilians — Klezmische Deluxe - Bring Them Home Now (I Heart Noise)

Middle European klezmer intersects with cosmic Americana in these haunted drones. A steady patter of banjo and drums keep time, while floating drifts of nonverbal singing, guitar tone and synth washes dissolve it into eternity. Solilians, an expansive ensemble based in Long Island, couches art about the Jewish experience in the vernacular of Appalachian folk. Strike a tuning fork in one tradition, and the other rings in sympathy here, finding commonality in melancholy, long shape-shifting tones and spiritual epiphany.

Klezmische Deluxe - Bring Them Home Now is, as the title implies, a plea for hostages still trapped in Gaza, and however you feel about Israel’s annihilation of Palestinians,* the Jewish prisoners’ situation has lately turned even more dire. So, while Solilians’ musical output has always tended to the otherworldly, it is even more sorrowful and spectral now.

But all that aside, it is remarkable how the two genres meet. In “Shema,” Benyomin Malkin plucks out a mournful porch blues on the banjo while Shoshi, one of two singers, croons a Middle Eastern dirge. But as it goes, the banjo cadence takes on a souk-like shimmer, while the vocals tap the desolation of mountain hollers. Geography shifts under your feet, and an unreal world emerges, part West Virginia, part Israel.

“Old Schmeckled Hen” is a contradance viewed through a backwards mirror, its heel kicking melody buried under cloudy penumbras of tone. You can hear evanescent references to shoegaze, even drone-y pop like Stereolab in its soft, indefinite unfolding, but also the righteous regularity of country dance music. “Klezmiche” unspools translucent sheets of ambient sound. A hard drum beat pushes it forward through pastel colored silks. Despite its klezmer-adjacent title, there is hardly a trace of ethnic reference in the whole thing. Not so, “Avineu Malkeinu” with twanging, oddly harmonized banjo and ululating vocals; blindfolded, you’d nail it as middle eastern, despite the Americana instrumentation. Yet as these two traditions slip and slide over one another, they find unlikely points of agreement. The minor-key harmonies that make murder ballads so heart-wrenching also make Solilians Jewish-influenced sounds more affecting. Both grew out of deeply held religious beliefs, isolation and poverty, and though the trees were planted far apart, their branches twine together here.

Jennifer Kelly

[deejaybearclaw]

Ursine Waves Episode 090: (Is It) Cub Club 024(?)

Listen on Mixcloud

On the show tonight: Australian hip hop, Polish post-punk, a 4 song set from Japan, & American sounds from Long Beach to Brooklyn.

THREX - signals from the void - Groop Effort Solilians - Klezmische - In the Running 2: Solilians - American Klezmische Defcee & Messiah Musik - Rabbi and the Golem (feat. Henry Canyons) - Trapdoor Noveliss & Dixon Hill - Scheminonameanin - Book Of Changes Teether & Kuya Neil - Carafe - GLYPH Nappy Nina, JWords - Is Me A Star - Double Down Worthy Life - Detail Oriented Billiam - Discogs Master - Live in [your city] Carvento Felana - Esta ventana me mira - Carvento Felana Geo Rip - Nah Press Fake Text - Geo Rip EP Liiek - Constructed - Deep Pore LP Clear History - morsels - bad advice good people Le Jonathan Reilly - Lifting La Milicia - 7", Demos & Other Rarities Meal - Jimmy - Jimmy SELF IMPROVEMENT - Fear & Power - Visible Damage Free Live Sports - Faraday's Fuck Room - Stay Grounded Bzdet - Na Naszych Oczach - Nie Ma Nic Dim Garden - Dread Grotesque - Dread Grotesque NicFit - Unleash - Fuse Pess - You Can Make Hamburger Yourself - You Can Make Hamburger Yourself LeakLeek - China Doll - Leak GOTOU - WET背 - GOTOU Ceramicist - Going To Therapy To Talk About An Optional Boss Fight - Telegraphed Moves

Aired 1/19/22 on Hollow Earth Radio, KHUH-LP Seattle, 104.9 FM & https://hollowearthradio.org.

[sovteck]

Listen/purchase: In the Running 1 - Skyjelly / Solilians by Skyjelly / Solilians

[bandcampfire]

Skyjelly + Solilians - In The Running 1

In the Running 1 - Skyjelly / Solilians by Skyjelly / Solilians

[songbytoadrecords]

Solilians - Hatikvah: The Next Generation

Been listening to these chaps a lot recently. It’s really good. Psychey, dreamy soundscapes a lot of the time, but it gets more upbeat from time to time. Really nice though.

https://solilians.bandcamp.com/