“Solitude” is the newest song from Melbourne, Australia’s Free Beer, a band that demonstrates a DIY ethos with the song self-recorded and self-produced. While the band describes the song as alt-country, it actually feels like much more.
The beginning of Free Beer’s six and a half minute song feels the most country. The song features a pedal steel guitar, traditional country rhythms and excellent drums. The vocals come in with an airy gentleness that somehow reminds me of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”, as they use nature as symbolism to create an image in your mind that matches the loss and loneliness described in the vocals.
If the intro felt country – there were some uptempo aspects – that was predominantly foreshadowing, as the song slows and becomes far more traditional country through the verses. The guitar mix makes the soft nature of the vocals a little difficult to hear, but that doesn’t hinder the song at all; it forces you to feel the song and listen with emotions, which is perfect for this track.
After about two minutes, the guitar tune changes. It picks up and begins a bit of a rhythm guitar solo. It begins changing the narrative of the song. The music then drops down, the drums temporarily drop out, and only the slightest bit of guitar brings us forward in anticipation. The drums come in quicker, but very soft. As it builds back up, we get a full three-minute instrumental outro that has a dirty, grainy, lo-fi reverb feel that has aspects of rock, country, and ’90s grunge. At times it reminds me of Temple of the Dog or perhaps Pearl Jam’s “Yellow Ledbetter” (not the ending guitar solo, but the parts before that). The song really does an amazing job of giving a feeling of solitude. It isn’t clean, but that’s by design. It perfectly adds to the feeling it is conveying.
Take a listen to “Solitude” below.
Written by Gimp Leg
