Earlier this year (September), New Zealand electronic artist Sola Rosa released has first studio album in half a decade – 'Chase The Sun'.
The record acted as soothing balm of sorts for Sola Rosa (aka Andrew Spraggon), who endured a period of severe anxiety and depression prior to the first pieces of 'Chasing The Sun' coming together."I wanted this record to sound hopeful," Andrew told us in October.
"I wanted it to sound like a slice of summer. For me summer means happiness, I prefer writing during summer.
"My happiest memories are being a kid and surfing all summer long, and I wanted to get back to that in some way, even though I'm not at the beach I'm stuck in a studio."
Fusing soul, funk, electronica, trip hop and indie pop sounds throughout, Sola Rosa worked with a range of acclaimed vocalists on 'Chasing The Sun'.
From regular collaborator and The Streets singer Kevin Mark Trail, to Basement Jaxx's long-term collaborator Sharlene Hector, and rising UK reggae star Kiko Bun, Sola Rosa worked with a who's who of session musicians.
Other collaborators include London pair, singer-songwriter Josh Barry and eclectic neo-soul singer Jerome Thomas, British reggae, dub MC-vocalist Eva Lazarus and Australia's Thandi Phoenix.
Now, Sola Rosa delivers a mini documentary about the making of 'Chasing The Sun' as well as a brief history about Sola Rosa.
"2020 has been a crazy ride," Andrew admits. "We had big plans for touring this album internationally in 2020-2021, but clearly that is off the cards temporarily, we'll see what happens moving forward.
"The focus right now is local live performances with summer festival bookings as well as a summer tour and tbh we are grateful for that.
"Planning is also in place for an NZ winter tour. For me there are pros and cons to less touring, which is I get to spend more time in the studio.
"The first lockdown in NZ allowed me to go through all the unreleased material from the last few releases and listen with fresh ears, and incidentally I came across a lot of good demos that I am now reworking, so hopefully it won't take so long in between albums next time.
"We're also holding on to some really great new remixes from the Chasing The Sun album, which will be released early 2021."
