REVIEW : Silverlites - RPM Online

On November 15th The Silverlites proudly release their self-titled debut album on Sunyata Records distributed by Sony Music.

You might think so what who are these new kids on the block? Well, They might be a new band but wet behind the ears they most certainly are not. In the great traditions of a supergroup, This quartet includes Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Rich Robinson (The Black Crowes), Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees and Mad Season) and Joseph Arthur, a singer-songwriter who was first discovered by Peter Gabriel.

You’re gently eased into the world of Silverlites with ‘Still Don’t Know You’ which in a predominantly acoustic affair before the cool tones of an electric guitar fall in like rainfall on a misty evening. Sitting comfortably? ‘Forever And A Day’ has a dreamy Bowie-esk feel to it as it drifts in on a cool shuffle courtesy of Barrett Martin. Putting the supreme relaxed structure of the music as the interplay of the electric and acoustic guitars takes hold of the earworm that’s settling in nicely maybe its Arthurs vocals that are soothing and sounding like a hushed Scott Weiland to my ears.

The gentle laid back mood continues until the first single chimes in with a cool swagger, ‘Don’t Go Don’t Stay’ is the work of a band comfortable in their own skin who need to prove nothing and can therefore concentrate on making the best music they can together as a band. Excellent single and song that showcases their individual talents and their collective cool.

The Silverlites initial spark happened in 2015, when Barrett and Rich played together in the backing band for a tribute to Led Zeppelin guitarist, Jimmy Page. 4 years later, in 2019, Rich called Barrett to see if he was interested in assembling a new band that could create equally adventurous music. That’s when Barrett called Peter Buck, a long-time friend and collaborator, and Peter called Joseph Arthur, whom Peter had also worked with. The Silverlites debut album was recorded during the pandemic years between 2019-2021 in a series of recording stages.

It began with Barrett recording Rich and Peter in a hotel room in Nashville when they took out their acoustic guitars to write the initial songs. Barrett literally ran down to the local music store, bought a portable recording rig, set it up in the hotel room, and started recording these initial basic tracks. The following year, in 2020, the band recorded overdubs and vocal arrangements from the Nashville sessions, and they also recorded a few more new songs at Jack Endino’s studio in Seattle, WA. Barrett then collected, organized, and edited all the final overdubs and prepared 18 songs for mixing.

Final mixing happened in New York City in the summer of 2021 with Barrett, Joe, and mixing engineer Daniel Sanint. When it came time to sequence this huge initial offering, the band had differing opinions, so Barrett sent the mixes to his former bandmate, Mark Lanegan, singer of the Screaming Trees. Mark loved the songs so much that he offered to create the sequence you now hear, which includes the 12 song album, and a 6 song EP.

The album was delayed for release because of everyone’s incredibly busy touring schedules post-pandemic, but now the album is ready to be heard by everyone. The band has decided to release 2 singles in early October and early November, and then the full album will be released on November 15th, followed by the additional 6 song EP in March of 2025.

You can see why they broke the flow of the songs into the EP and the 12-track LP. It’s a lot of music to get through and the beauty of these supergroup projects is to create something that is outside of their wheelhouse I guess and that is certainly achieved here. There are times I’m thinking of Neil Young with the keys and acoustic combinations but the laid-back restrained percussive drums take it somewhere different, especially on the excellent ‘No Time’ and the countrified ‘Dark And Magic Skies’. The production is massive and adds a grande and confident feel to the songs and songs like ‘Looking For A Friend’ it’s easy to see how Mark Lanigan was so impressed and wanted to be involved in some capacity.

The penultimate track on the LP is ‘No More’ which is the loudest track on offer and a nice contrast to the more laid back acoustic stuff. This will have intrigue and appeal to fans of their day job bands for sure and some will love it whilst others not so much but isn’t that the beauty of creating music? Me, I find it really impressive and very enjoyable now where did I leave those Josticks and my paisley rug? Catch you later you crazy kids, peace out!

The CD will be released with six more songs on January 10th.

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