“Somera Sol” is the latest release from Brant Bjork (Kyuss/Fu Manchu/Che) and the Bros, following on from their debut release “Saved By Magic” which was released in August 2005. Somera Sol also follows hotly on the heels of Brant’s solo acoustic album “Tres Dias” which has also just been released. The Bros are now joined by Alfredo Hernandez (former stick man with Queens of the Stone Age/Kyuss) who comes in to join Dylan Roche on bass and Cortez on guitar. For this release there have been a few honorary Bros recruited in to help out, namely Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson) on vocals and guitar, Vince Meghrouni on sax and flute, Olive Lalli on vocals and Sean Wheeler (Throw Rag) also on vocals. 

When I first received “Somera Sol” I was expecting a Latin Rock style release somewhat in the Santana style, purely on its title alone. But what you have with this release is a retro rock/punk/blues style odyssey that is very heavy on the bass and chucks out an almost psychedelic sound which is very biased towards the same notes, tones, styles and form throughout the release. It is almost pentatonic in nature, a style that hasn’t been heard of much since the turn of the 70’s, and one that I found hard to listen to on its own. 

Sitting down by yourself, plugged in to your Ipod (remembering that there are also other brands available on the market), makes “Somera Sol” very hard work. The repetitive beat, heavy bass, very upfront drumming and almost looping riffs tended to make my mind wander away from the music itself and think of other things and when I snapped back to the music I found that it had miraculously jumped 1 or 2 tracks. Not the ideal thing to do when trying to review it. So try and try again did I, but there was nothing really that grabbed me the balls and demanded my full attention (believe me, anything grabbing my the balls DEFINITELY has my full attention), so I was just about to right it off as a no-hoper – then purely by chance I found its true calling. Get a few mates around, crack open a few tinnies, put this on in the background and you find the opposite happening. Instead of sitting down putting the world to rights we found ourselves getting quieter and quieter and letting the beat and mood of the music wash over us, taking us in to the psychedelic words being created by Brant, even the almost subliminal messages in the background of “Freaks of Nature” seemed to make sense. The beat has an almost hypnotic effect and you feel that you have been transported on a trip back to the late 60’s, early 70’s in an almost Purple Haze epiphany without the need of any outside influences other than the music.

In a nutshell, this won’t be staying on my MP3 player, but I will be keeping a copy in my car and also in the house for those times when I don’t want to have to concentrate on my music, but want the music to concentrate on me. An interesting release that certainly opens the eyes to a completely different style of music. Not a high scorer, but certainly worth a very respectable 7/10.

Let us know your views on Somera Sol

Track List

Turn Yourself On
Love Is Revolution
Shrine Communications
Oblivion
The Native Tongue
Freaks of Nature
Ultimate Kickback
Chinarosa
Lion Wings
Blood on the Ground