by John Brouk
Rose City Band, pride of Portland, Oregon, is back with their fifth album. Sol Y Sombra is a rambling and relaxed ride through the sunny and topographically diverse west coast. Listening to the record is like a sonic visit to the Pacific Northwest soundtracked with sundazed country rock jams where nature dwarfs human ambition and a calming oneness can be felt. With any luck, Rose City Band is the main act within heaven’s dive bar circuit.
The album begins with “Lights on the Way” which lands somewhere between Traveling Wilburys and Grateful Dead. Like many cuts from the record, the song is filled with cyclical chord progressions, rhythmically strummed by acoustic guitars while meandering jammy solos and pedal steel whip and wind across the lush green soundscapes painted by the warm and breezy instrumentation. On the scale of country-to-rock, “Open Roads” leans more towards the former, with a folky jugband feel that really lets the pedal steel get good and warmed up. A friendly posse of gang vocals accent the choruses as the western aesthetics appear in spades.
The album then settles into an even more tranquil suite of tracks starting with “Rolling Gold,” whose lackadaisical, lazy, sound encapsulates the feeling of a sunny nap in a hammock. Another simple back and forth acoustic chord progression provides ample room for pedal steel slides, bloops, and tweedles. “Evergreen” and “Sunlight Daze” continue the placidity with relaxed lead vocals spinning tales of open roads and roaming through forests just for the sake of roaming. The pedal steel guitar continues to act as a cosmic spirit throughout the tracklist, meandering like a river, hovering over the waters of guitar, ballpark organ tones, and in-the-pocket percussion to see that all is good.
The tempo is picked back up again on “Radio Song” with its fantastic jamming guitar solos that feel like something Neil Young and Doug Martsch of Built to Spill might concoct. On the following song, “Seeds of Light” we begin to hear Latin-influenced rhythms and sounds being employed with a shuffling guitar and flourishing guitar solo fingerwork. Instrumental “La Mesa” is even more rhythmic and funkier with twinkly chimes, accenting drum beat, woozy guitar slides.
The record comes to a close with a pair of “w” songs, “Wheels” and “The Walls”. “Wheels” puts on the brakes and guides us gently back to slower sonic territory while keeping our heads in constant bobbing motion. With another guitar solo that would make Jerry Garcia crack a smile, it twirls and somersaults on a bed of organs and interesting guitar strum accents. “The Walls” brings the sunset down upon the horizon and lets us know the day is done, the album is ending.
Sol y Sombra is a serene record whose colorful palette is worth getting lost in. It is a good reminder that spring will be here soon and winter’s chill will fade. It’s like the bright green grass patch growing up through the melting snow as the sun shines. Many things may not be going well, but small glimpses of hope and moments to reflect on what is beautiful and peaceful can strengthen us and lift our downtrodden spirits.