Rime Trails’ “Solstice” album is a fitting tribute to this yearly phenomenon of the seasons, where embracing becomes the paramount objective. There is much to savor in this new album…
It all starts with the gentle piano. It’s the main instrument here. There is no tourniquet tightness over strain as a emotion. Everything just falls into place. The music occupies similar emotive strands to Johann Johannsson and Nils Frahm. However here, is an undercarriage of bending tones that slither like grass growing between iron girders; natural elements colliding at the softest and hardest temperaments.
The act of temperance becomes a guiding light to shine over the sharps and flats of the pianist, who also plays gently. It is with a lot of pleasure that this album became known. Three albums are being released by Shimmering Moods, all on March 17th (my birthday!) and this is a big a treat as any to blow away the cobwebs of winter.
What I found most impressive was the melodic consonance leading to no dissonance, nothing at all, just pure melancholy and sleepy time sound fragments. This categoric trimming of the sound palette makes for a minimalist’s dream, and inducting a new label to my radar – Shimmering Moods – adds the icing on the cake. Heartily recommended if you love late nineties period soundtrack music with piano as focus.