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This fourth disc from Tim Howard and company finds Soltero branching out into broader sonic territory, with styles ranging from Brian Wilson-influenced pop ("From the Station") to Pavementy/Modest Mousey indierock to ragtimey folk ("Michael," "Rosie Day"). Howard hasn't lost his knack for the wry, ear-catching lyrics, providing such barbed gems as "there's a place in the sky where the Canadians go / they've got a password that I don't think I'll ever know," from "Hands Up," and "the obvious cure for a lifetime of pleasure / is the lifetime we're living together," from "Single Good Evening," a track that sounds like a much looser New Year playing a coal-mining ballad. With "Songs of the Season" Howard has penned a perfect Christmas song for cynics, a good playlist companion for Harvey Danger's "Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes)."
This album doesn't feel as cohesive to me as Soltero's prior release, but I also think parts of it are a little more immediately accessible, and I continue to be impressed by Howard's songwriting. I think if the focus were tightened up some, Soltero could have a career breakthrough on the order of, say, Rogue Wave, but maybe Howard's not interested in reining in his free-ranging creativity, and that's cool. (mike.07.05)
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Soltero is essentially a solo project by a fellow named Tim Howard, and this is an idiosyncratic, often lovely album (his third) which defies easy categorization or comparisons. The songs are mostly restrained mid- to down-tempo pop, built up from a foundation of acoustic rhythm guitar and complimented by other deft instrumentation, including some great-sounding electric guitar leads. There is a variety of stylistic flavors and textures, from campfire folk to country to touches of psychedelia to Latin (samba?) rhythms, applied subtly so the sound doesn't become jumbled or inconsistent. The most familiar sound on here is the track "The Good Times", the intro of which may make you think you are about to hear a faithful cover of "Oh, Yoko". One point of reference provided by the label is Yo La Tengo, and while I'm usually pretty wary about the Yo La comparisons, Howard's tremulous voice does bring to mind a young Ira Kaplan (as well as Dean Wareham and Ray Davies) and the songs have a generally subdued quality reminiscent of the Yo Las' quieter numbers. Overall the way the songs are built (presumably) in an organic layer-by-layer process enables Soltero to transcend any obvious genre limitations or influences (that I can tell, anyway) and create a really distinctive and sometimes gorgeous sound. The lyrics here are really outstanding--they tend toward the wry and melancholy and contain some very resonant and memorable turns of phrase, such as "Now and then I think of all the good times / and it never takes me more than 20 seconds", which sums up the overall wistful/cynical thematic bent pretty concisely. Personally I'm not sure if this disc is something I could ever fully settle into, but I am definitely impressed with it, and with each listen it draws me in more. (mike.01.05)
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