Antisolar is the long time project of friends Olivier Raynal and Andrew Doolittle. Raynal and Doolittle live over 5000 miles apart (LA and Paris) but have a close friendship that has stood the test of time over almost 2 decades. They’re in our ears at the Send Me Your Ears studio today with their latest single, Drifting.
Drifting covers the impossible subject matter of substance abuse through the eyes of the spouse. An intense rock song about meth addiction and the desperate pleas of a partner to try to reconnect with the addict despite the pain she too is feeling. It’s a powerful subject matter and clearly written from the heart. Drifting is Antisolar’s fifth single.
The chorus has such heartwrenching lyrics;
Someday you’ll be coming back
To have a life, driven off the tracks
And now how much can we choose
To build up the little left that’s true
I’m left drifting further away from you
Drifting starts with a real Gary Moore – Out In The Fields feel. It has a prog rock feel to it with some interesting chord choices. Right up our street!
The addition of Rush style keyboards makes Drifting feel already like a timeless classic. The harmonies in the choruses are very reminiscent of Steve Perry’s time in Journey – particularly the ever popular, Separate Ways.
The electric guitars are heavy and suitably distorted. The panned keys work is superb and makes Drifting something that really stands a cut above.
Perhaps a late 70s to mid 80s rock feel to the overall track, this is synth led indie rock. The heavily distorted guitar solo towards the end feels authentic with some great note choices and power.
We love how Drifting kept us on our toes. Perhaps in the same way that the addict in the song keeps his loved ones on theirs. There was something really exciting in the choice of notes in the bass line that, on occasion, we were expecting to hear an F# and instead we got and F natural. Great choice of note and enough to make us all nod and say “ooh that was cool!”
Of particular interest is the key change at around 3m15s with a spoken word section with disorientating vocal lines panned left and right – again – just like an addict or the partner of an addict would struggle with confusion. Really clever symbolism here.
From a mix/master perspective; ours of course, the drums may have been a little dominant whilst also just a little dull in the mix. Perhaps a wide boost centred around 8kHz to add some more life and presence will balance out the drums and give a little more life to the vocal track too. We’d also suggest a wide cut around 1000Hz for balance and a boost around 150Hz to give some more thickness and punch to the overall track.
An epic heavy rock, leaning towards classic rock feeling song with heartfelt vocals and a passionate performance. Antisolar’s latest single, Drifting, is guaranteed to please fans of Rush, Journey and many others from this era. Superb stuff!