Having enjoyed some success in recent times—including a top 10 debut LP—Elliot Minor return in emotionally-charged, ambitious style with album number two. This is pop-rock firmly wedged at the ‘pop’ end of the scale: it’s music of the introspective ballad and tug-away-at-your-heart-strings variety, with Alex Davies’ lovelorn, heartfelt vocals supported by an excess of tinkering keys, stirring orchestration and the occasional sudden swerve into guitar solo territory. It’s a mash of Muse, Sunset Avenue and Coldplay, and as a band Elliot Minor have got the hooks and the tunes to soon have you cheerfully humming along.
The potential album standout moment comes in the form of ‘Better Than The Courtroom’, featuring verses so downright spot-on at pulling those heartstrings into knots that most acoustic guitar-wielding songwriters would probably commit murder to have to written it. But—and this ‘but’ is indicative of a lot of ‘Solaris’, sadly—the song is ultimately a little underwhelming, thanks here to a chorus that feels lazy after such a strong build-up. ‘Solaris’, then, is a bunch of tracks that show Elliot Minor to be perfectly competent in what they do but missing a certain something.
