SOLACE / Nothing Was Never Anywhere review

This week in new music: post-hardcore heads SOLACE landed back on our radar with their new single ‘Nothing Was Never Anywhere’. This colourful followup to their debut EP, with its awesome accompanying music video, is available to hear on Youtube.

The track begins with soft dynamics and an eerie vibe that calls back to the ambient music that inspired it. The opening is complimented by a feedback-heavy and riff-filled drop: but we’ll get to that later. From the curiously unique sonic qualities to the gut-wrenchingly raw guitar tone, this track oozes style and sophistication. Whether you enjoy shoe gaze or are partial to a bit of sludge-metal- there is something in this record for you. I first listened through the track on my old amp whilst the sun was going down and instantly knew that this song was the perfect soundtrack for peaceful moments like that. The vocals are tastefully submissive, leaving room for the cool dissonance and feedback of the guitar. Paired with the Smashing Pumpkins-esque drum groove, the result is something rather special.

I was thrilled at the chance to chat with SOLACE front person and songwriter Matt Lister about their approach to this track and the overall creative process surrounding its creation. The track came together as an amalgamation of musical concepts that they experimented with over the lockdown period

The demo was more electronic and nothing like our previous EP, but slowly as we started to play through the progression it started to transform into something more like you hear today’

Matt Lister

Matt adds that they were influenced by a mixture of ambient music and post-hardcore that they had been listening to. These inspirations are hugely apparent in the record: it is a difficult genre to pinpoint, I felt the track was more of a journey through multiple concepts and would not attempt to constrain it with labels.

The main lyrical hook came to Matt in the middle of the night after waking up from a nightmare. The honest sound of the track perfectly conveys the importance of music as an escape to the band.

I have always seen creating music as an escape from my day to day life where I struggle with serious mental health issues. I feel like each song I write is a reflection of whats happening in my mind during that time

Matt Lister

All that remains for this track now is for it to be enjoyed by us all at a live gig- so here’s to hoping we can all get back to our favourite venues soon to hear SOLACE do their thing! Until then, keep up with them on social media

Instagram – @solaceukband

Facebook – facebook.com/Solaceukband