DG Solaris – Spirit Glow
Independent – 19 June 2020
DG Solaris is based on the power of two. It’s also a bit of a love story. In March of 2018, Laish main man Danny Green met Leana “LG” Green and quickly fell in love. By December they were married. During a South American honeymoon that lasted several months, the duo wrote and recorded over forty songs that were culled down to the twelve on Spirit Glow. Produced by Iggy B and recorded in London’s Bella Union Studios, the Greens recruited Laish’s Tom Chad and Matt Canty. Drummer Matt Hardy filled out the drum chair, and they were off and running.
From the jungles of Peru and Columbia to the streets of London, Spirit Glow filters through a colourful lens, sounds of psychedelic folk-pop abound. Emerging from two minds and voices, DG Solaris is at turns playful and lively as if the music had been run through a kaleidoscope or hurdy-gurdy. Burning away a sonic seventies haze, the voices of the Greens slowly come into focus on Total Understanding.
South American street sounds dissolve into Feeding A Feeling while spritely guitar and bass licks unfurl a tune dedicated to the vulnerability of new love. Initially, Danny sings, “I’m feeding a feeling the darkness hides my open wound.” Yet as the song develops, a Mellotron enters as Danny offers “I’m the light shines for you” and LG replies, “I will be waiting there for you.” Danny notes, “This song is about how we feed the feelings which lead to our own fears and insecurities. We tried to create something joyful and hopeful out of this unease and sense of unknowing.”
Through a gauzy haze of guitar, LG takes the lead on Don’t Need To Tell You, making her love perfectly clear, “Don’t need to tell you cause you already know, don’t need to tell you I would never let you go, but I’ll tell you, tell you every day, how much I love you, how much I care.” A lovely synth line drives home that point. Woozy and somewhat unsettling, Brother I’ll Ask Her is a kind of schizophrenic take on modern life. Sections tend to bump into each other, yet through it all, the chorus somehow manages to help the song make sense.
From the opening notes of Total Understanding to the final chorus of I Will Hold You, Danny and LG Green have concocted a heady brew that reflects their own journey. Spirit Glow is a salve for the soul, a gentle reassurance that love always seems to find a way. We just need to be open to the music.
Pre-Order Spirit Glow via Bandcamp: https://dgsolaris.bandcamp.com/album/spirit-glow