This album starts out with a couple of songs that are characterised by gentle sounds, up-beat rhythms and weeping guitars. One gets immediately reminded of Radiohead. Another thing that strikes the listener at first glance is the warmth of Rob Sowdon’s (Arena frontman) vocals.

Although I’m a fan of Arena I must admit that I wouldn’t have recognized Sowdon as being the singer of Solar. The vocal melodies on “Dark Places” suit his voice better than on most Arena songs. During the middle section of the album, Solar gives the impression that they are still somewhat searching for the right direction. Tracks like “Caving In” and “Mother of Mother” show a strange combination of influences from Celtic, Gypsy and Oriental origin. This is probably why these two songs are my least favourite on the album (the `la-la-la’s` on “Caving In” might also have something to do with this”).

During the following five tracks the band strangely enough seems to have found the direction they were looking for. There is a certain balance that makes these songs more complete than the first couple of tracks. And althought there are some clear references to U2, Coldplay and Porcupine Tree, Solar sounds original and fresh. The tracks “Untouchable”, “Arizona Dream” and “Twise As Bright As The Sun” work out great.

This brings me to the main point of critisism. Why the **** didn’t Solar put more songs of this high level on this cd? On the possitive side Solar has made the same progression on one album, most bands need a couple of records for. A nice debut album, a promise for the near future.