Solar Project
Force Majeure

The Apocalypse according to the Germans Solar Project.

This concept, "Force Majeure" (Musea, 2004) is their sixth work in ten years of career, and I must say that the stylistic and compositional maturity is definitely felt. Guitars slightly dirtied by a light distortion, keyboards and saxophone accompany the fascinating voice of Bettina Wirtz and narrate of atmospheres at first rarefied and clear, then darker and nostalgic, until reaching catastrophic visions.

Over the years, Solar Project has accustomed their listeners to a melodic and refined space rock with clear references to the sound of Pink Floyd (indeed, in each of their works, the presence of the Floydian muse is felt), so it's surprising that the first track "Days Of Wrath" is a pop-electronic piece quite distant from what an unsuspecting listener might expect, yet still pleasant. It serves as an introduction, and the true show begins with the second track, a suite of about half an hour divided into six small chapters, "Thunderstorm", where all the compositional verve of the six German musicians is breathed: long soft and melodic instrumental parts, with keyboards that very much recall a certain 70s style. Here the singing is very poetic, Wirtz's seductive voice describes the theme in the first part very well: the calm before the storm. A storm that will soon strike the earth, forcing the musicians to sudden changes of rhythm, but often returning to the melody that weaves the leitmotif of the entire suite.

The third track, "Force Majeure", also a suite divided into four parts, talks about real wars and an unlikely (today) ecological catastrophe. In it are collected the words of some heads of state announcing the events that have devastated the world in the twentieth century (all caused by man) such as the outbreak of world wars, the launch of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, up to the attack on the Twin Towers. The list of tragedies continues in the last track, "War", where in a sweet and relaxing musical context, by contrast, malice which over the years has too often prevailed over human nature, dotting history with terrible atrocities, is sung.

The last part of the album is of heart-wrenching sweetness, despite the message contained being unequivocally devoid of hope. Hope that, unfortunately, is absent in all the tracks of this album: humanity has built splendid things over many years but is destroying everything in a few minutes. And Nature will sooner or later defend itself as best it can...

In my opinion, despite the theme not being the most cheerful and their vision being one of the most pessimistic one can imagine, this is a very enjoyable work. The musical aspect pleasantly surprised me, especially for certain recalls to the 70s sounds so dear to the German group and for the sweet and melodic approach they have taken to tackle such a dark theme.

A tip: listen to it without delving too deeply into the lyrics...