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 With only days before the premier of Solarstone's brand new artist album 'Touchstone' we had a chat with the man direct to find out more about this highly anticipated new album...
One of the most forward thinking artists on the scene will be unleashing his new solo work in just a few days time. It's a new album that has been created without any boundaries or genre restrictions which will see a variety of musical styles all formulated within the Solarstone sound. The work of Solarstone is all down to one man these days, a very talented artist known as Rich Mowatt who has a thirst and love for music as big as anyone. The past discography from Solarstone makes for exiting reading and even more joyful listening having been responsible for some of the greatest pieces of electronic dance music ever written. ‘Touchstone’ will be pushing new tracks to join the past classics in epic status amongst music fans. It’s an album that Rich has put a lit of thought into and is the follow up to his ‘Rain Stars Eternal’ album that was such a phenomenal success. As an artist is there a more un restrictive mind as Rich’s when it comes to producing? It’s that mind will look to delve into as we ask him all about his brand new album. Enjoy the read….
i:Vibes: Rich thanks for taking some time to talk to i:Vibes. How is your summer going? Any time to relax or has Touchstone been robbing you of an early summer?
Solarstone: Thanks for inviting me back! Well I live on the Welsh border so ‘summer’ isn’t really something we experience that much of, but we have had a few surprise days of sunshine. Thankfully I finished recording the album at the end of February but of coarse I find it impossible to stay out of the studio.
i:Vibes: It has been two years since the release of your last studio album Rain stars Eternal. How difficult was it coming up with a concept for Touchstone and following up the big success of your last album?
Solarstone: I wouldn’t say it was ‘difficult’, it was actually a very fulfilling experience recording this record. I decided before I recorded a note what I wanted the sound, pace and style of the album to be. Putting ‘Rain Stars Eternal’ together was a real learning experience, despite having released 10 years of music beforehand, an ‘album’ is a totally different thing to releasing a succession of singles, and it is, as you so rightly put it, a ‘concept’.
i:Vibes: What was your goal behind Touchstone? You are a man that carries loads of inspirations into his music. What special inspirations did you get for Touchstone?
Solarstone: In terms of the goal, several things were important to me on this album, things that I have noticed about other artists’ records over the years, such as the space between instrumental vs. vocal tracks, the space between male vs. female vocal tracks, all these things have to be balanced against the light vs. shade on the record, the dynamic build and flow throughout the album. It’s almost a science in itself! In terms of the inspirations behind the album, I’m currently working on a ‘Touchstone Mind-map’ – it is a 3 dimensional web page which shows the inspirational visionaries who have inspired me in both my music generally and on ‘Touchstone’ in particular… it’s pretty cool.
i:Vibes: Why did you call the album Touchstone?
Solarstone: Well, as the concept of the album is ‘inspirations’, two definitions that I have found for the word ‘Touchstone’ are these: (1) The recognition of, or reference to, a visionary source of inspiration (2) A standard by which others can be measured. These two definitions perfectly sum up what I was striving to achieve with the record – to wear my inspirations on my sleeve and also to make an edm album that is adventurous and unafraid to try something new.
i:Vibes: Trance is always changing with new sounds. How would you describe the overall sound of Touchstone?
Solarstone: Cinematic, widescreen and hopefully, forward-thinking. It’s an electronic music album; to call it a ‘trance album’ is too restrictive and pointless. I never pertain to narrow genre limitations in the studio… its other people who like to pigeon-hole you, why restrict yourself?
i:Vibes: You start of the album with “Is There Anyone Out There” with Bill Mcgruddy. The track has Bowie-ish undertones. Was it a big challenge in the studio to take this track in this type of direction?
Solarstone: The ‘Bowie-ish undertones’ are really more in the song writing, it’s not really a Bowie style production, although he is one of the few musicians who were releasing music in the 70’s that is still relevant and forward thinking to this day. He has experimented with electronic sounds too.
i:Vibes: The second track “Ultraviolet” quickly introduces a lot of emotion. What was it like working with Haris C? How did you guys share the working duties on this beautiful piece of music?
Solarstone: Haris and I are good friends; we came up with an idea when we spent a few hours together in his studio in Cyprus last year. It was basically a riff, chord progression and a bastardised version of a vocal from his archive, which I then spent a month producing into what is now ‘Ultraviolet’ on the album. Sometimes when you collaborate with another artist (such as ‘Slowmotion’ with Orkidea) you share the production duties 50/50, at other times (such as this one) you write the main theme of a track together and then one or other of you does the bulk of the production. When I collaborate with another artist I have to be in the same room as them to share the production duties, it just doesn’t work when you are not together, hence why I worked on this one at home. Haris is doing his own ‘Club Mix’ of the track too.
i:Vibes: “Night Signals” with Julie Scott on vocals is a moody down tempo track. The sounds in this track reminded me a bit of Depeche Mode. What was your inspiration behind this track?
Solarstone: We wanted to make something that sounded like the soundtrack to an avant-garde French b-movie, the production is inspired partly by Eurythmics and Giorgio Moroder, but also we based the verse melodies on a theme from the opera ‘La Bohéme’.
i:Vibes: The instrumental title track Touchstone is a very remarkable track. The melody incorporated with your guitar is really fascinating. How difficult was it making this track? What was the most difficult thing that you had to get right to make it perfect?
Solarstone: This one was done in little chunks, I spent a few days writing and arranging the string and choir parts, then another day on the guitars. The trick with this one was producing something with ‘that Solarstone sound’ that people love, but without repeating myself. I love this track, it has a 32 bar melody progression which should really be way too long for a dance track, but it works really well.
i:Vibes: “Electric Love” is a floor burner. It features Bill Mcgruddy on vocals. He sang three times on Touchstone. What makes the working with him so perfect?
Solarstone: He’s an old pal of mine, a wonderful musician and also a great performer in the studio. We share a warped sense of humour which makes our time in the studio a good laugh. We have kids the same kind of age and have both struggled over the years in this industry, so we are kindred spirits.
i:Vibes: “Electric Love” offers the listener with a big surprise. After 4 minutes, one hears the If you throw a stone in water, and the track takes a total new twist. The break and melody is really breathtaking. Was the twist planned or was it created as you were building the foundation of the track?
Solarstone: I keep mentioning this so stop me if it gets boring – but I firmly believe that a good track should be first written as a piece of music that can stand up in it’s own right when played on the piano or guitar, then the production in whatever style you choose, should follow. ‘Electric Love’ was actually based on a song Bill had written years previously, we wrote the new parts and then built the track. The ‘Throw a Stone’ bit is definitely the main hook, despite not being part of the main chorus, which is interesting in itself!
i:Vibes: “Intravenous” is an interesting instrumental. It reminds one of a Pink Floyd style track. Where were you mentally when you were making this track?
Solarstone: You’ve hit the nail on the head with that one! The track is a modern homage to the late Richard Wright, the keyboardist in Pink Floyd, in my opinion one of the finest musicians England ever produced.
i:Vibes: Twisted Wing” has Julie Scott on vocals again. What makes her special as a vocalist?
Solarstone: Julie is a consummate professional with an astonishing vocal range, a raw power which draws me to her. She is so not ‘dance music’ in her attitude. Many dance music vocalists are soulless, plastic and sound like cartoon characters, singing in stupid nursery rhyme rhyming couplets that sound like they were written by a child. Julie is the antithesis of this.
i:Vibes: You produced “Slowmotion” with Orkidea from Finland. You can choose anyone you want for a collaboration. Why did you choose Orkidea?
Solarstone: Because Orkidea and I totally understand each others approach to making music. He is the only producer I would trust enough to hand over the controls to. His heart and soul are firmly lodged in the ‘unity’ aspect of 90’s trance music, his production skills are incredible and as a Dj he knows exactly how to rock a floor. He’s also un-flappable and possibly the nicest guy in dance music.
i:Vibes: “The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up”. How much more of a challenge is it for you to produce a track when you are doing vocals?
Solarstone: I only really became comfortable with my own vocals after ‘Late Summer Fields’, these days I handle them the same as I would anybody else’s. The one bonus is that you can have a last minute change of mind about something and can re-sing it instantly, rather than having to make arrangements for someone to return to the studio in Germany or whatever. I actually had a terrible throat infection when I recorded the vocals for this track, but it gave my voice a neat gruff deep edge that I thought was cool.
i:Vibes: How were the studio duties between you and Orkidea on “Zeitgeist”?
Solarstone: Exactly the same as with ‘Slowmotion’, we combined a gig of mine in Finland with a couple of days in the studio. We do this once a year; it’s something to look forward to for us both! Also I get a eat Reindeer once a year too.
i:Vibes: You decided to further develop “The Last Defeat” and got Lucia Holm for vocals. What was your goal in giving this version such a meditative edge?
Solarstone: The track was always intended to have a ‘Pt 2’ – I loved the way bands in the 70’s would split a track into two different parts, but I thought it was a bit much to put them both on one album and instead, something cool to link the two albums together. I brought in a string section, Hammond organ, Rhodes piano and the wonderful dusky vocal from Lucia. It is a real ‘Part Two’; there is also an ultimate ‘Parts 1 & 2’ version which I will release one day.
i:Vibes: You end the album with “There’s a Universe” with Bill Mcgruddy splitting the vocal duties. This reminds me a bit of Duran Duran sound from the Wedding album.
Solarstone: Gosh that’s interesting; I’d never have made the Duran comparison myself! I wanted to make something that sounded like a modern Phil Spector production Bill and I share the vocal duties on this one, but eerily our voices sound very similar on the recording, it’s difficult to tell them apart.
i:Vibes: How much work and fun was it completing the album Touchstone? What would you like to have your fans remember from this album?
Solarstone: Recording this album really gave me a thirst for the cinematic side of things, I’ve started to really get my head into orchestral arrangement as a result, it makes everything more interesting and I suppose challenging. There is nothing worse as a musician than to rest on your laurels. I’m not sure whether or not the album will please everyone, if you’re looking for 12 trance tracks one after the other you will be surprised by it, but I like to think of Solarstone fans as a sophisticated bunch who are open minded enough to really enjoy the album.
i:Vibes: Who will win the 2010 World Cup in South Africa?
Solarstone: Oh God, football doesn’t appear on my radar, sorry. Er…. Wales??
Solarstone 'Touchstone' will be released on the 28th June!
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