It could never be said that Solar Bears doesn’t stick to what it knows. The two Dublin musicians who make up the group’s core, John Kowalski and Rian Trench are psychedelic kosmische specialists and ardent film buffs through and through, and those two specific interests come together in a loose sort of way on their first piece of new music since last year’s Supermigration album for Planet Mu (not to mention the mix they gave us back in January). “Interzone” hit our inbox with the note, “New studio jam in honour of the late, great director Dennis Hopper. With much respect.” And though the song’s kind of motorik arpeggios, lush synth chords, and thumping drum-machine patterns wouldn’t exactly be commonplace in any of Hopper’s work (not even the obscure sci-fi comedy he had a bit in in the ’80s), we imagine that the man’s penchant for hallucinogens and sweeping soundtracks would land Solar Bears’ latest piece right in his personal wheelhouse.

Interzone