First Glances – Solway
The sheer scale of the Solway Firth may be impossible to imagine for some, but there’s no mistaking the impact of its windswept wilds on “Sherwood Avenue”, the debut track from Manchester multi-instrumentalist Dean Jones, one half of local post-rock duo One Little Atlas (OLA). Now also recording under the name Solway after an inspirational trip North, the cinematic project was then recorded in Jones’s leafy suburban studio without overdubs in just a couple of hours over the space of two days, the autumnal changing of the seasons bringing out its organic, elemental feel.
With a sophistication that’ll come as no surprise to fans of OLA, the result is pure ambient bliss, MIDI strings and keys stirring the emotions, meditative drones and neo-classical composition given depth by subby pulses, as well as colour by modular synths that blossom across the Firth’s slate-grey waters beautifully. A Siren call to the likes of Ólafur Arnalds, “Sherwood Avenue” is a mini masterpiece. A full-length album is expected 2022.