Rufus Du Sol - Solace

Rufus Du Sol
Solace
2018
Spotify

The rise of Rufus Du Sol's popularity has been almost meteoric. There was a period where they were at every festival's second stage, sometimes the main, delighting audiences with their super specific sound. At the time they had a few look-a-likes in the game, but now it appears Rufus Du Sol remain the leaders in this zone. The run up to this album has been very different. The art work has featured the trio in desert landscapes shrouded in hoods and cloaks. It looked almost like "Eyes Wide Shut" meets "Lawrence of Arabia" and felt miles away from their original stuff. The art work apparently is reflective of the music because on Solace things take a much darker turn. The music is still atmospheric but instead of shifting into those big bold drops and bright releases the music tends to go deeper and darker. The trio moved to Los Angeles in the two years leading up to this record and being away from home brought a new sense of loneliness that has found it's way onto this record. This tends to make the lyrics and the delivery super one note. The problem with Rufus Du Sol in the first place was how identical all the songs sounded from a vocal perspective. The album ticks all the boxes you would expect a Rufus Du Sol album too, but in terms of invention the only new elements are the darker vibes. The mange to break out of this in moments,  but only rarely like on "No Place".

All the tracks start to follow the same damn pattern, and it's the same pattern they have always used. You know each song is going to open slow, build some electronic tension then release into a House drop or techno bridge with almost deadpan vocals. It is almost like they have dialed in their sound so hard that they feel unmovable. "Underwater" is close to something great but it feels like a giant mountain that is never changing no matter how many times you climb it. They tip the balance to far towards introspective electronica and forget that dance music needs to have a euphoric release. Bob Moses suffered from this as well, going way to dark for their own good. The album is only 9 tracks but it drags like crazy with the last few songs crawling along. It really is not until the last track that you get something with some soul behind it, but it feels like too little too late. There need to be more of this glimmering moments where you can almost see the lasers. People are loving this record, but it doesn't appear to be making the waves that Rufus Du Sol originally hoped. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's incredible, but it doesn't really feel like it.

6.1 out of 10