CHRIS FORSYTH & THE SOLAR MOTEL BAND

Dreaming In The Non-Dream 8/10

Over the past few years, culminating in 2016’s double album, The Rarity Of Experience, the Philadelphia-based Forsyth has emerged as standardbearer of a febrile electric guitar tradition, one that incorporates Richard Thompson and Jerry Garcia, Television and Sonic Youth. This year’s outing is a more streamlined creation, clocking in at 36 minutes and with the second guitarist culled from the Solar Motel studio lineup. Still, Forsyth’s imperative to find new possibilities from a classic format shines through. Horns shade the lyricism of “History & Science Fiction”, while political indignation is implicit in the furious forward momentum of the title track – a needlepoint funk joust with keyboardist Shawn E Hansen that ranks as one of Forsyth’s best jams.