Island

What did you do during the big stay-home? Solarstone wrote himself an album - an unplanned one obviously, and one - by his own acknowledgment - he wouldn't have gotten to write in more conventional times. 'A lockdown album' by any other name - not the first and undoubtedly not the last. 'island' started with a thought, which was part of March and April's global realisation that this summer was to be unlike any other. The cornerstone for most in hot season revolves around a trip - often to an island and of course for many, one isle in particular. So Solarstone wrote something for those that would have to dream or recall, rather than first-hand-experience that first day on the island. The holiday literally reimagined. Embarking with it's title track, it's soundscape-suggestion couldn't be clearer. It conveys the inimitable pulse and thrill of arrival over island airspace, as blue gives way to beach, sea becomes sand and rubber greets runway. It's followed by the heel-cool equalisation of 'Deepblue', whose low-tempo breaks, temperately warping synths and percussive claves muster vistas of rurally rugged between-towns roads, heat shimmer ever-hovering over the highway ahead.