September 17, 2010

Album Review: Solar Bears - She Was Coloured In

The Dublin duo create an other-wordly cosmic love-in between sounds

8 / 10 Since disco’s colonisation by hirsute Scandinavians it’s become far cooler to hoard records with
galaxy vistas on their sleeves than it should be. Dublin duo Solar Bears may follow a similar path to Prins Thomas et al – stretching sheer synths and languid beats into prog oblivion – but they plot the course with sun spots in their eyes. The results are charming, taking Vangelis-style futurism (‘Twin Stars’), cosmic disco galvinised from overdriven guitar flourishes (‘Crystalline’), and, most gloriously, pastoral romanticism that sounds like it’s been stripped from a decayed VHS copy of Le Mepris (‘Cub’). Totally uncool. Totally brilliant.

Louise Brailey

Click here to get your copy of Solar Bear's
'She Was Coloured In' from Rough Trade Shops.