Band Website: www.solterosongs.com
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 |
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