Sophie Solomon – Poison Sweet Madeira
Poison Sweet Madeira is a solo effort from former Oi Va Voi and London Symphony Orchestra violinist Sophie Solomon. Following suit of the likes of Vanessa Mae this album is mainly instrumental with only a handful of tracks having vocals provided by KT Tunstall, Richard Hawley and Ralph Fiennes.
The violin is the main focus of much of the music and album has an Eastern European sound with influences also coming from Africa. The songs are dramatic and moody and full of vibrant colourful sounds.
The album opens superbly with Holy Devil, a fast song which builds up and up the longer it goes with new instruments coming in behind Solomon’s furious violin strokes giving the track real depth.
The songs with the vocals obviously stand out on Poison Sweet Madeira especially A Light That Never Dies which consists of spoken word (by Ralph Fiennes) over a backing track which has a variety of sounds from Russian to muzak and even an Oi Va Voi influence. These combined give the song an eerie haunting and dark feel.
Lazarus featuring KT Tunstall (with whom Solomon collaborated with whilst with Oi Va Voi) features both artists at their best. The contribution from the violin and piano make this track fairly calm and soft when compared to other songs and KT Tunstall’s demonstrates how sweet her voice can be yet maintains it rawness she has become reputed for. Burnt By The Sun with Richard Hawley has an almost Latino background with mellowing singing.
Final track Pin Pricks And Gravy Stains provides the album with an upbeat and happy ending. It has a high tempo and a mood which wouldn’t be out of place in an underground bar in Russia. The rest of the album swings between deep colourful backing tracks (such as title track Poison Sweet Madeira and Hazy) created by a whole host of instruments to stripped down softer music (such as Dvorak’s Slavonic Fantasy)
Poison Sweet Madeira is a fantastic album and is a refreshing change to other material on the market. It has the potential to open the minds of people to a whole new genre and will no doubt enhance Sophie Solomon’s reputation as a talented musician.
By Craig Evans
