Soltero writes mean love songs about the freeze and
thaw, the hem and haw of a young heart.
The recordings alternately feature the melancholy
of Leonard Cohen and the full-band bravado of Neil Young.
Some comparisons that are frequently made include Pavement, Silver
Jews, and Yo La Tengo. The Boston Globe has even alleged
that if Johnny Cash and Lee Hazelwood were to play together they
would sound something like Soltero.
Soltero has shared bills with The Mountain Goats,
Of Montreal, Brother Danielson, Mirah, Mark Robinson, Calvin Johnson,
Idaho, Songs:Ohia, and The Microphones, among others.
Soltero is permanently Tim Howard and frequently
others as well.
Reviews for Hell Train:
"So much thought is put into everything.
[Howard's] mood is interwoven with every seperate sound and instrument,
from the tiptoeing, austere organ slowly descending in the background
of 'Step Through the Door' to the faint dinking of a slightly
offkey piano behind the sixties swagger of 'Hands Up'.... an extraordinary
album." - Sara Leah, Earfood.net
"An open book of 60s country pop and psychedelia imbued with
a postmodern nonchalance, a la Pavement or Lou Reed.... Soltero
reaches beyond its influences with new vision and in full color,
presenting a collection of fine ballads, laments and invocations."
- Dan Vermont, The
Owl Mag
"Doing the solo singer/songwriter thing well is hard to pull
off. You've got to offer the breathy brilliance of an Elliott
Smith, the homespun wit of a Loudon Wainwright, the poetic audacity
of a Joni Mitchell -- or in the case of Tim Howard, aka Soltero
, a bit of all three." - Dan Strachota, SF
Weekly
"A wonderful psychedelic haze... hangs over Hell Train's
summery, dandelion-fuzzed pop and stoned, bittersweet country
balladry. Howard's clever, metaphorical lyrics are eloquent, poignant,
painfully funny and full of hard truth.... Mellow and meaningful...
delightfully quirky and light-hearted." (8/10) - Peter Lindblad,
Lost
At Sea
"The simplicity of Howard’s writing is amazing; lyrics
such as, 'I can wait for my place' are incredibly simple yet deep
and reflective." - Cassandra A. Harter, The
Maneater
"Hell Train is an aesthetic of sunlit decay, of peeling paint
on abandoned grand staircases and of the ghosts of well-respected
men and women fall on hard times. At times it bursts forth with
buds of Soft Pop colour, like on the delectable 'From the Station.'
At others, for example on the penultimate 'Ghost at the Foot of
the Bed,' it twists around its core of introspection into a harsh
psych indulgence that spits acid at the sun. It reminds me of
the glories once served up be East River Pipe, and, like their
'Poor Fricky' and 'Mel,' Hell Train is a record to which I'll
keep coming back. " - Alistair Fitchett, Plan B (UK)
"Hell Train serves up a more diverse musical
cocktail with everything from upbeat, sun-drenched harmonies and
catchy hooks to gritty introspective ballads.... one of my 2005
favorites." - Lisa Town, Left
Off The Dial
"This is right up my alley.... Soltero are
in the great Boston avant tradition stretching from David Arvedon
to Stephin Merritt and beyond. Several songs on Hell Train, Soltero's
fourth, are psychedelic classics." - Francis DiMenno, The
Noise (Boston)
"Over the past few years Soltero had settled
upon a consistent lineup, and the growing familiarity between
members turned it into a live juggernaut. Hell Train is a brilliant
document of that part of Soltero's life.... the band’s excellent
fourth record continues the development of an increasingly fascinating
local music story." - Peter Hanlon, Northeast Performer
"While Howard, the group's creative force,
continues to write lyrics that are smart, ascerbic and tender,
this album reaches new heights in terms of production and musicianship....
Hell Train is undoubtedly their best to date." - Joe Sullivan,
Junkmedia
"One of the few artists who can play just
as well with a loud backing band as he can when accompanied by
an unobtrusive acoustic guitar.... Love, loneliness and life's
darker moments flash by as Hell Train spills from the speakers,
and every second of it is the work of one of the best songwriters
you've still never heard of." - Andrew Magilow, Splendid
"Hearing his songs shaking the winter off
their backs is almost like hearing Soltero for the first time
- they're unmistakably Howard's, yet uncommonly welcoming to dense
arrangements and blustery sonic abysses." - Zeth Lundy, PopMatters
"Hell Train's compelling and insightful lyrics
come cloaked in a variety of musical styles.... In the album you
can hear Howard opening his songwriting up to a variety of influences
and inclinations." - Dave Heaton, erasing
clouds
"Hell Train might be one of [Soltero's] best
thus far.... Whether it's their underlying efforts to capture
perfect catchy hooks or their innate ability to cipher music into
this puzzling art piece that you'd hang on your wall if you had
enough self-confidence. Awesome."
- J-Sin, Smother.net
"Wonderfully complex songs that sound oh,
so deceptively simple.... Kinda like a flower unfolding, these
songs bloom before your ears." - Jon Worley, Aiding
& Abetting
"Sublimely baroque.... To our ears, Soltero
sounds like Grandaddy jamming with Ryan Adams, which is to say
that the band should be much bigger than it is. As soon as we
heard Howard sing, 'She was drunk and I was high/ And so was she
and so was I/ With the blessings of the backdoor punks/ And the
savoir-faire of fall-down drunks' (from the new song 'Acadian
Coast'), we knew this was a kindred barroom spirit." - James
Reed, Boston Globe
"[Hell Train] builds on Howard's already
considerable reputation for instrumentally elliptical but emotionally
direct rock and roll. He takes the wreckage of broken relationships
and crafts it into music of grandeur. Aural treats abound: Pet-Sounding
thump-ta-thump and plaintive harmonies, keening Neil Youngian
piano ballads, mellow Malkmus guitar swoon, and baritone bons
mots that would leave Stephin Merritt tongue-tied." - Boston
Phoenix
"Camus-core for weather-beaten locals...
the impressive songwriting on this album not only kept bodies
from flying out the fifth-floor windows at Dig HQ but also kept
us coming back for more." - Paul McMorrow, Weekly
Dig
Reviews for The Tongues You Have Tied:
"...stands out above the mostly generic acoustic
singer/songwriter crowd.... This record is a soft and wonderful
treat!"
- Indiepages.com
"...in the ever growing world of indie-music,
which is littered with bands struggling to make enough noise to
be heard, Tongues is a quiet and beautiful album on which Soltero
expertly delivers on its original promise: 'if you ever let me
in / you will never get me out.'" - Jennifer Jones, Losingtoday.com
"'Sore Thumb' is just flat out John Fahey-mystic-Americana-mumbo
jumbo-brilliant. A song like 'The Factory' is just so painfully
beautiful you feel like you could die." - Francis DiMenno,
The Noise (Boston)
"With the first few notes of the disc's opener
dropping from an out-of-tune keyboard and skating into a perfectly
tremoloed guitar, Tim Howard... and his songwriting had pretty
much won me over." - Charley Lawrence, Seacoast
Online (NH/ME)
"Albums this startling ('startle' as in "to
astound", not the scary stepbrother to the term) don't come
along every day, and if they did, I'd relocate without hesitation."
- Slightly
Confusing To A Stranger
"Very infectious and charming.... a terrific
collection of rural, country-tinged love songs. Soltero will have
you howling along in no time." - Matt Shimmer, Indieville.com
"An idiosyncratic, often lovely album which
defies easy categorization or comparisons.... a really distinctive
and sometimes gorgeous sound." - Mike, Copacetic
Zine
"There are certain things you can count on
with each new Soltero record: impeccable production, subtly beautiful
melodies and liberal amounts of oblique sarcasm. Tongues
doesn’t disappoint..." - John Wenzel,
Erasing Clouds
"A wonderful folk-pop album with just enough
quirky touches and melancholy twists and turns to make it really
interesting.... A beautiful work..." - Rabbit,
Shmat.com
"Howard, who sounds like a gruff, throaty
Elliott Smith or a less rough Neil Young, has a real knack for
writing pretty little folk ditty.... a great little record by
a young artist who's clearly onto something." - Joseph Kyle,
Mundane Sounds
"While it's not certain what incarnation
of Soltero will emerge next, this lonely guy's got it going on
with Tongues." -
Weekly Dig (Boston)
"A very nice sunset-y kind of album for watching
the gradual stretch and creep of shadows. Soltero's songs slip
effortlessly from day into night. Nice!" -
Aquarius Records (SF)
"Howard has done it again, delivering an
extraordinary batch of tunes about life's ordinary events."
- Andrew Magilow,
Splendid
"Full
of depth and momentary happiness and spilling over with soul,
this is Soltero’s best work to date and is destined to become
a 2004 favorite." - Lisa Town,
Left Off The Dial
"Making the kind of simple pop tinted folk
made by Elliott Smith on his first few albums married to the occasional
ghost of Yo La Tengo, Soltero’s Tim Howard is etching out an image
of sweet, darkly humorous delight." - Alistair Fitchett,
Tangents UK
"Tim Howard writes songs that possess the
mortal weight of old folk ballads, but are delivered with the
regal melodies and vocal style of [Ray] Davies.... Tongues
is a quiet, beautiful, and sometimes self-deprecating collection
of songs.... the title track sounds like Stephen Merritt collaborating
with Elliott Smith."- Zeth Lundy,
PopMatters
"Quirky, brilliant songs brimming with soul
and depth. Down tempo, but never boring." -
Hybrid Magazine
"Tongues is shrouded in a aural
haze, without being cluttered by sonic textures.... "Loredena,
It's Easy” hits a bridge that brings the record from the cold
of Boston winters (when it was recorded) to the sunny California
pop that serves as a coda on the album." - Bethany Williams,
Performer Mag
"Tongues drifts through your headphones
like a breeze in the summer foreshadowing thundershowers."
(rating: 4 out of 5) - Joe Sullivan,
Junkmedia.org
"The effect of this stripped-down concoction
is subtle; you could easily find Howard’s unobtrustive voice and
words affixing themselves to your brain even as you put on Tongues
while playing a late-afternoon game of Scrabble." - Sara
Miller,
Charleston (SC) Citypaper
"...intricate alt-pop with plenty of allusions
to country (of the alt. sort, of course), indie rock, 60s pop....
I'd like to add one more obvious reference: Half Japanese. Howard
is a much better musician and singer than Jad Fair, but both manage
to create this feeling of imminent danger that makes their songs
addictive. Slide in and be electrified." - Jon Worley,
Aiding & Abetting
"...an album full of folksy ballads about
lost love and missed opportunity. Its intimacy is powerful and
comforting, to the heartbroken and heartbreakers alike."
- Alexis Miller,
Pittsburgh City Paper
"The sound is so unique, so fresh, so unequivocally
good, that you feel instant inspiration.... Maybe it's his fascination
with the Mamas and Papas, but Soltero somehow has this retro old
folk rock sound about him somewhat packaged in some post-folk
(or is that nu-folk?) fashion. Whatever it is that you can't quite
put your finger to, The Tongues You Have Tied should
be required listening." - J-Sin,
Smother.net
"The brains and the lovelorn heart behind
the shambolic-melancholic indie band Soltero, Tim Howard knows
how to write a tune or two about romance lost and found, or the
sad beauty of quotidian existence. His band's new The Tongues
You Have Tied (Three Ring) is due sometime in June, and what
we've been able to hear of it so far suggests his most accomplished
work yet..." -
Boston Phoenix |
Hell Train
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The Tongues You Have Tied