Track By Tracks: Solitary - Embrace The Darkness (2024)

1. Embrace The Darkness:

The embryonic musical idea appeared in 2021. Andy came up with four or five ideas that have all spawned songs which are featured on the album. I initially came up with a few of the lines for the first verse and they hung around for a long time. When it came to the subject of the song, one of my daughter's friends really struggled with her mental health and developed an eating disorder which ultimately became the subject of the song and tied in well with the whole Darkness theme of the album. I spent a lot of time going back and forth with Simon Efemey on the chorus vocal patterns as it was really quite lacking initially.

2. Settle Scores The Old Way:

When we'd finished the music for Settle Scores The Old Way all of us kinda thought it was okay. It was one of those songs that you think nothing of until you hear the final mix and realize that you've created a monster. Lyrically I've always been amused by the videos of blokes offering each other out so naturally you then get to see the actual fights and how utterly brutal they are. So the subject definitely fits with the music and in all honesty for hundreds of years fellas have been sorting out their differences by having a straightener and it's no different today it's just that there are people making money out of it.

3. Virtues:

This was the first song we finished and the first one to get a full set of lyrics. It's inspired by the drama of the same name which stars Stephen Graham, a really dark and sinister watch dealing with the historical abuse the character suffered as a child in the care system and how it haunts him and the mental torture continues into adulthood and affects the choices he makes and his own family.

4. Bury It Now:

This was one of the early riffs that Andy conjured up, the subject is one that anyone in a band with have encountered - the bullshitter. I think the music business is the only industry in the world where it's acceptable to make things up, not deliver, and be generally useless but you still have a platform to continue voicing your opinion and conning people; be it a band member, promoter, record label, booking agent or manager. The ex-band member in question shall remain nameless.

5. Beneath The Surface:

This a fairly personal one for me as I wrote it about my Mum. She was diagnosed with Dementia in 2020, but in all fairness, the signs were prominent a few years beforehand. I was putting myself in her position regarding how I'd feel about knowing something was wrong and the uncertainty of what lay ahead. She passed away in February of this year after a horrific 4-year decline.

6. The Disappeared:

We wanted a really short song like Unidentified off The Diseased Heart of Society, so we reviewed some of our riff ideas and I just suggested 'let's keep it simple, we'll just use those three riffs and mix them up'. I wrote a cue card of the varying orders of the riffs and for a long time, the track was known as cue card! Lyrics wise it just tells the story of the people who 'disappeared' in the '60s and '70's during the troubles in Ireland.

7. Section 21:

This is probably my favorite track on the album. I always note down ideas for song subjects and I'd made a note about nightmare tenants, who basically squat in rented properties and whilst not paying any rent proceed to wreck the place before they get evicted. Amazingly the landlords seem to be powerless even with the help of the courts.

8. Filtering Hindsight:

This was the last song we worked on for the album and all of us were a bit unsure if it had a bit too much '90s groove to fit in with the rest of the album, but it came out great in the end. We all experienced the lockdowns and behavior of those in charge at the time, both in and out of the public eye. It's a fitting way to end the album and hopefully, better times are ahead. It's ironic that we released the single and video the day a new government was elected.