Today, we’re thrilled to introduce a promising new name to the UK music scene. Subsolar is a Bournemouth-based project that might just be starting out but if this musician’s debut single ‘Komorebi‘ is anything to go by, there’s plenty more good stuff to come. This track, which takes its name from the Japanese concept of sunlight filtering through trees, it’s a patterned and dynamic indie-rock number which reflects the beauty of dappled sunlight in the woods.
Deeply connected with nature, this artist takes note from the environment’s ability to convey a hushed subtlety and explosive power in an arrangement that embodies this duality. The opening is subdued with spacious guitars, shimmering percussion (courtesy of Paul Nicola Miller) and gliding vocals, which is all wrapped up in a reverb-soaked soundscape helmed by producer Gavin Monaghan and engineer Liam Radburn. As the track progresses, it moves from soft, metaphysical textures into something more weighty and tangible with a searing guitar-led crescendo in the final minute.
All of this sonic dynamism serves to unravel Subsolar‘s narrative of memory, loss, endings and love. Inspired by how the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind handles these themes, the songwriter explores how he felt the wake of his father’s passing and the collapse of a long-term relationship. As a path to acceptance, he leans into the pain and embraces each of life’s milestones, whether they cause us sorrow or joy.
Subsolar takes his personal grief and relays it into this universally resonant message of impermanence. It’s beautiful, it’s brutal and it’s utterly unmissable.
You can also listen to ‘Komorebi’ in our Outsiders Club playlist.
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