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Review & Full Album Premiere: Saturno Grooves, Solar Hawk

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on May 21st, 2018 by JJ Koczan

saturno grooves solar hawk

[Click play above for the premiere of Saturno Grooves’ Solar Hawk, out in June via L.S.D.R. Records]

Some albums work better on vinyl or tape, with that split down the (roughly) middle, and some work better on CD or digital, where you can listen straight through in one sitting with no interruption to the process. Saturno Grooves‘ debut full-length, Solar Hawk, arrives via L.S.D.R. Records as a record that feels designed to go either way and still not lose its grasp on the listener. With a split between its first three and second three tracks, it allows one to pause for a second and catch their breath before immersing in the broader explorations to come that the six-minute-on-the-dot “Cherna Bong” sets up at the end of side A.

In a linear format, with no break in the six-track/34-minute run, Solar Hawk unfolds gracefully and sets up its flow early on the shorter opening duo “Beaumont” (3:24) and “Seven Hills” (4:20) before “Cherna Bong,” the title-track (6:22), “White Sand” (7:42) and closer “Red Sun Arising” (6:56) push further outward into a heavy desert psychedelia that seems as much about the Durango, Mexico-based trio’s enjoyment of the trip as the audience’s experience of the results. Guitarist José Peyro, bassist Oscar Cisneros and drummer Adolfo Solís make no claim that I’ve seen of their debut being a concept album — they seem to cite a variety of cultural and thematic influences — but the fluidity with which they loose their material speaks to a certain wholeness just the same.

That turns out to be a strength particularly when taking the album in one single dose: by the time the rolling apex of “White Sand” seems to provide the album’s culmination, the rest of Solar Hawk — apart from “Red Sun Arising,” obviously — has hit the bloodstream and already had its engaging effect, whether it’s the feedback drenched largesse that initiates the post-Kyuss semi-prog thrust of “Seven Hills” or the drawn out and echoing lead that Peyro layers atop the title-track as it oozes toward its midsection, which drops momentarily to a quiet space of guitar-only desert tonality that, frankly, I wish there was more of throughout. With an EP and a single behind them in their five years together, Saturno Grooves clearly constructed this debut out of jams — note that the “construction” is very much a factor; this isn’t just jams put to tape — but it’s in the flashes of patience like that of the title-track or the start of “White Sand” that offer flashes of the dynamic developing within their sound.

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I’m not saying they need to start doing loud/quiet tradeoffs or straight-up quiet-to-loud builds exclusively or anything, simply that in the tones of Peyro and Cisneros, there’s enough presence to hold up those subdued moments perhaps more than the band are willing to give themselves credit for. Hell, in “White Sand,” even Solís gets to take the fore briefly to lay down a shuffling foundation for the push to come. There’s a lot of all-three-together here, and it works very, very well. Where Saturno Grooves have room to grow is in toying with the balance between all-three-together and highlighting each individual’s contributions and presence as well as the balance between louder and softer, faster and slower parts, which they already do exceedingly well, blending shades of the aforementioned Kyuss with some of Earthless‘ cyclical virtuosity and Sleep‘s penchant for nod, which again, makes “White Sand” seem like the peak of Solar Hawk when it hits into its moment of arrival.

And I’ve used “seem” twice now as regards that track only because when the subsequent “Red Sun Arising” begins to land its bombastic, plodding crashes, the effect of that stomp is nearly resonant enough to leave footprints. Saturno Grooves thud and riff their brains out on the finale, and by the time it’s about 2:45 into its nearly seven minutes and they seem to draw back for a second, one has to wonder where they’ll head next, but the answer is into a speedier, solo-topped middle third that soon enough gives way to a far, far gone section of molten roll, again showcasing Peyro‘s impressive lead work as it sort of flowingly dances — because it’s not marching, and it’s not lumbering anymore, and it’s still too cohesive just to be melting away — to its finish, which upon its arrival feels somewhat sudden, as “Red Sun Arising” sound both like it could just keep going and like it’s destined for a gentle fadeout rather than the cold snap ending it receives.

Maybe that’s Saturno Grooves‘ way of subverting expectation, but either way, when one goes back and revisits “Beaumont” at the outset, its galloping progression and straightforward riffing underscore the point of the distance the three-piece travel from one end of the LP to the other. However one chooses to connect with it, the most important factor is that Saturno Grooves make that connection while sounding natural and utterly in their element as they progress throughout. Again, I don’t think it’s a concept album from their end, but even in its instrumental form, it’s easy to read a narrative progression into the songs themselves, let alone any other tale they might actually be telling. While this is technically their first album, Saturno Grooves sound like a group who’ve played together for a while, who have developed a sense of musical conversation between themselves and the common language for that to take place. One only hopes that dialogue will be ongoing.

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