“Shards” from Italian-born producer Soul Island is a poetic and heartfelt story of growth and feelings protection.
The artist’s first solo act confesses the struggle of witnessing 80-90s subculture displacement and dilution into millennial content. An XY generation tale of substance fighting for channels, turned into the frequent void of current day media. Therein, the artist’s pain of detachment from his beloved culture and practice, to which he opposes feelings of self-defence and a research for sense.
Sound in “Shards” sits at the intersection of post punk songwriting and contemporary electro, heavy in analog soundscaping and revisited pop rhythms. Through refined harmonies and unusual structures the listener is positioned inside the artist’s inner speech, revealing intimacy and deep acoustic emotions, hence the artist’s moniker.
The overall dark and nostalgic footing is balanced by a positive vision of personal evolution. Acceptance becomes recognition, new meaning, and the flame once dying out is now up for new sparks. All this reflects musically in the deep compositional cross reference between the electronic sound parts, often stemming from shared sequencing rules in a generative loop.