With nearly a decade of dedicated work in the Chico music scene, Solar Estates has released their highly anticipated self-titled new album.
Aric Jeffries, the singer and guitarist, established the group in 2011 as his musical endeavor when he moved to Chico.
He said the album took three years to complete.
“Assembling it all together took a long time, and we mixed it ourselves, so it's a long and ultimately very satisfying process that we're now able to share it with everyone,” Jeffries said.
“Going into each of those songs and making them feel exactly the way that we wanted to, and sort of working around some of the difficulties of having recorded all in the room together, it creates a certain magic.”- Aric Jeffries, Vocalist and Guitarist
The current band consists of Stephen Galloway (guitar and bass), Jimmy Galloway (keys and vocals), Landon Moblad (drums) and Loren Weber (guitar).
The group spent months in the studio layering guitars, vocals and textures that captured their evolving sound.
“It felt like we were all really clicking together creatively at that time and still, but it was a really good experience,” Stephen Galloway said.
Making the album
The album is a culmination of years of collaborative effort between the members.
The ten-track album was released this month, with the single “Show Me” leading the charge. The single’s neo-psychedelia sound is reminiscent of a mixture of Grizzly Bear and The War on Drugs.
“It has a great hook in the chorus, and everyone kind of has a little moment to shine in it,” Moblad said.
Recording for the album began two years ago, with the band making a conscious choice to record all in one room and utilize analog effects, including the use of a vintage tape echo machine.
The band had wanted to produce an album for a long time, Jeffries said, but they never felt they had the right collection of songs to assemble the project.
He said it came to fruition only after they made the deliberate decision to move beyond EPs and complete a full-length album.
“The funny thing about it is, once you sit down and decide, ‘okay, we're going to do a full 10 song album,’ well then you have to start actually making the songs and filling out stuff,” Jeffries said.
For the band, mixing the record was the biggest, but most rewarding, hurdle. They wanted to take their time and have the complete creative reign to get it right.
“Going into each of those songs and making them feel exactly the way that we wanted to, and sort of working around some of the difficulties of having recorded all in the room together, it creates a certain magic,” Jeffries stated.
Bringing it all together
Most of the songs start with Jeffries’ lyrics and guitar ideas, but the band builds on them together, shaping the final sound through a collaborative process.
Jeffries says the album isn’t entirely biographical, but it is coming from a place of feelings, fears, and real emotion.
“ And vulnerability that I have,” Jeffries said. “That's not going to connect for everybody, but I do hope that there's a good amount of people that hear that and they feel a sort of kinship or connection to it.”
The band says releasing the album feels both joyful and relieving — a rewarding culmination of years of work they’re now celebrating live with an album release show.
“It feels like a great bookend to that process of now revisiting all of these in a live setting,” Stephen Galloway said. “It’s a very satisfying and exciting prospect.”
The release show is at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Argus Bar + Patio with opening performances from Lish Bills and Sophie Jewell.
