by Hugo Reyes (@hvreyes5)
Even though it's a cliche, I’m going to say it: there is no band like Soul Glo in hardcore and any of the neighboring genres. Even if you tried to emulate them, the end result would be failure. Trying to splice together all your various influences may be the norm today, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily an easy feat to pull off. Intertwining straight up rap songs in between pissed off hardcore songs is a skill many vocalists cannot do. Vocalist Pierre Jordan makes it look easy, expelling word counts that would make me pass out from the lack of oxygen flowing to my brain. Their newest effort, Songs To Yeet at The Sun is just the latest example of their prowess and a necessary addition to an already impressive discography.
“(Quietly) Do The Right Thing,” the first track, begins with a vocal squeal, not wasting any time in its very manic rhythm, and it never really lets up from its pace, pile-driving the listener in its two minute runtime. Even if you can’t pick out every word, the intent is still coming through quite clearly, making me yearn for a basement show once again in 2020. That’s all that matters in a hardcore song. This isn’t a college paper. I’m not judging each line when I look at the lyrics to make sure it's perfect.
But I still have multiple lines seared into my brain. “Doin estrogen in the back of a Chick-Fil-A/ Slap a politician, now he says he democratic”. These are just two lines said in the noise rap track of 2K, in what I like to think of as the centerpiece of the EP. The flow is much clearer, making all of these lines more discernible without needing to look over a lyric sheet. This isn’t the first time Soul Glo has employed a rap track but this one in particular makes the many different topics and musical influences come into focus.
Songs To Yeet At The Sun is the opposite of a cerebral experience. It’s instantaneous and immediate. You either get it or you don’t. If you want to do a deeper interrogation, all the lyrics are there for you on the Bandcamp page. Soul Glo is at its peak for me when the vocals become an instrument against the hardcore cacophony of “I’m On Probation”. The only escape is at the very end, when Jordan yelps in the EP’s closing seconds.