Book of Us

Arianna Solare

Let me start off by saying that I predicted the sound of this artist’s music just based on her name. It seems like some musicians are bo

rn into their genres, just like everyone named Jeeves is doomed to a life of servitude and/or consulting. Just the sound of the name Arianna Solare made me think of indie folk-rock, which is exactly the kind of music you find on her debut EP Book of Us. But hey, maybe it was just dumb luck or post-hoc reasoning on my part.

Either way, Arianna Solare is a very engaging artist with a unique vocal style. Her singing has a rich deepness to it that is very alluring and also provides an emotional maturity to her compositions. There is also a distinctive quaver that wafts her voice across the soft instrumentation in the background. This is probably a technique she picked up during her time spent performing in temples in India, which, according to her biography on her webpage, is where her current singing style began to take shape.

Lyrically, Arianna Solare seems to remain focused on the subjects of love and her own life. Basically, the first four tracks can be dumbed down to songs about relationships, successful and not, represented in natural and spiritual metaphors. But they aren’t exactly the typical boy meets girl pop songs. For example, the first track “Lift Me Up” is at the same a song about hope for the future and regret for the past. Arianna Solare sings in the chorus, “Love ain’t gonna break me this time / It’s gonna lift me up / Love ain’t gonna leave me dry / It’s gonna lift me up,” which shows that in the past love hasn’t always been so kind to her, but this time it will be different. And I have to wonder whether the line “The gods they must be crazy” is an intentional reference to the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy. That could score a higher rating for this album in the minds of some reviewers who really dig obscure pop culture references.

The final track of the album “Are You Coming With Me” is an autobiographical song that describes some of the details of Arianna Solare’s life. Sometimes I wonder if these kinds of songs are just the artists being egotistical and saying, “Hey, look at me! I’m interesting!” But I can’t fault someone for finding some therapy in expressing themselves through music, especially if they’re a smalltime artist. There is also the potential for others with similar tales find a connection through a song like this, especially if the details aren’t particularly specific. It seems that verses like, “I was livin where the sun don’t shine / Survivin on whiskey and wine / And the teardrops they fell from the sky / I found god in those city lights,” could apply to any number of people who had similar experiences.

Purchase Book of Us by Arianna Solare at CD Baby, iTunes, or Amazon.

Arianna Solare – As I Walk to the Edge
Arianna Solare – Are You Coming With Me

For more information on Arianna Solare, visit her MySpace page.

By the way, I have a confession to make. Arianna has always been one of my favorite names that I’ve never actually heard in reference to a living person. However, the meat of the confession is that it’s always been a standard name that I have used when naming characters in fantasy or sci-fi role-playing games. Yes. It’s true. I’m a geek. I doubt that you would have been able to guess that by the fact that I write a music blog.