SOLARISTS | The Channel's Twilight

The solo project of Hinterlands Cameron McLellan, Solarists will hopefully not be relegated to an occasional project, as McLellan has made an astounding and affecting album that swells the heart and sets the listener adrift in his simple, intoxicating melodies. It's likely that Solarists will be grouped together with similar artists like Iron & Wine, Rivulets and Great Lake Swimmers, but to be grouped with such quality will hopefully draw people to him, rather than have him lost amid the crowd. The top song is easily Starfucker, in which McLellan's voice quivers ever so slightly, giving the song such a confessional feel that you can audibly hear the lump in his throat. Slow and steady win the race in this genre, and Starfucker takes its time, keeping the listener transfixed with the easy, yet intense guitar and barely-there piano all surrounded by an elegiac beat.