Solpara Melancholy Sabotage

Solpara's new album, Melancholy Sabotage, marks his return to Other People. While it was recorded over Covid lockdowns, Jaar had been talking about wanting to back a Solpara full-length since he put out Swing. The album came to life while Solpara was living alone in a Brooklyn loft, collecting unemployment checks and viewing ample free time as the artist residency he'd dreamed of; he'd previously been forced to make music in odd windows between numerous jobs and the unmerciful pace of city life. Free from obligations, he would wake up early to take Arabic lessons, read Tracey Thorn's autobiography, and skateboard the deserted streets, then come home and design sounds until he had a track that felt like it needed to be released. While this easy going lifestyle was peaceful in many ways, Solpara found more complex inspiration in the emotion that stemmed from participation in Black Lives Matter protests and the 2020 Beirut Port explosion which rocked all of his extended family members in Lebanon.

Working with a mix of VST synths, guitar, live vocals, and plugins, Melancholy Sabotage is Solpara's uneasiest outing to date. "The melancholy is going and going. It's both beautiful and painful and you can get engulfed by it, but you can sabotage it," he muses on the album's title. The record pinpoints the duality at the heart of Solpara's sound, which is as plaintive as it is searing.