Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Arguably, there is only one cure for curiosity, and that is exploration, the willingness to delve further into what novelty, curio, or wonder has peaked your interest and set your imagination ablaze. The explorer finds a place for all the curios they find, collect and muster, a single case of pleasure, open only to those who also believe in the marvel of the world; A Cure For The Curious, the only cure is consideration, evaluation and study, if that all comes to love then be as curious as you want about anything and never let anyone dismay you with their own unfounded opinion.
A Cure For The Curious, a remedy that you probably didn’t know you required, but in the end the medicine is there to swallow, you take it, or you find another way to live. In the hands of Solasta it is a musical offering that takes the listener down the finest of all rabbit holes, it is impossible to be late to this particular party wrapped up in elements of Jazz, Celtic fire and virtuosity, the rabbit won’t mind if you change your dress and take a bite of food which causes you to experience a sudden growth and desire to experience more.
This debut for Solasta is a striking out of confidence and holding your nerve in the face of a musical appreciation in some that does not go beyond the popular hit and convulsing parade of so-called talent; it is a striking of nerve which is born out of courage, of animation and delight, the integrated rumination of fiddle, cello and guitar; the end result being a sense of the fantastical and awe-inspiring, something to which Elisabeth Fleet, Hannah Thomas and Jamie Leeming should be extremely proud of producing.
In tracks such as The Plate Smasher, Lost And Found, Bedlam Boys, Terror Time and The Hornpipe Set, the threesome captivate and elevate the force of the curious to a point where they reflect in the musical audience what they see in themselves, a patient wondering at why very few have gone down this particular route, why the world is so scarce in the face of such appreciative intricate collaboration.
A Cure For The Curious is an album of sensitivity, of a measured uplifting pulse and a dynamic that is unexpectedly beautiful.
Ian D. Hall