T.H.E Interview – Solarstone

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Solarstone

Richard Mowatt is a man who has helmed the pure trance scene single-handedly till date. Better known as Solarstone, the man grew up being exposed to the best and the most purest sounds of the genre.

However, as time passed, the genre kept getting infiltrated with almost everything apart from elements that were genuinely trance! Profoundly provoked by this, he chose to stick to the roots of the genre and give it out to the people, intact, in it’s purest and most raw form to make them realise what trance is all about.

And for all the effort that he put into this, we can definitely saw that he has been exceedingly successful.Today, he has fore-fronted the “ILikeItPure” movement and has supported artists who propagate the same, via his label, Pure Trance Recordings and his Pure Trance events all across the globe.

This year, he releases a sequel to his 2017 released album ” .- – – -“. Titled with intriguing morse-code again, we sit down with this man and break down all the details about his upcoming album “. . – – -“. One dot more and a dash less, what could it possibly mean? Read on to know all about it from the man himself!

Shivani – Hi Rich, it’s wonderful to have the opportunity to speak with you! Your new album “. . – – -” comes out on the 4th of May. How are you gearing up for its release?

Solarstone – The campaign has begun with the ‘Thank You’ project, I wrote the song as a tribute to my late Father Dennis, it’s based upon one of his favourite pieces of classical music; Handel’s ‘Largo’ which was played at his funeral in January. I realized that I didn’t really get the chance to say ‘Thank you’ to him for the many things he did for me, and the campaign highlights the fact that we often don’t find – or make – the time to say ‘Thank you’ to our loved ones, the message is a reminder of that, and gives people the opportunity to do it via video or written messages and photographs. I’m quietly apprehensive about the reception of the album.

Shivani – The new album title has an additional dot and a dash less. Can we assume that the three dashes stand for three more parts coming out in the future years?

Solarstone – Well, the cat is out of the bag on that subject now, when the first in the series was released in April 2017 the only hint I gave was the phrase ‘part one of three’ which was printed in Morse code on the inside of the CD packaging – the listener needed to look inside the wallet sleeve to see it. There is more to come.

Shivani – We see you switch from a bright pink to a brighter blue in terms of the color scheme of the album! Any specific reason behind it?

Solarstone – Well yes, I love neon colours – and the blue is to signify ‘summer’, as the album has a kind of ‘summery’ feel to it, at least more so than the pink one, which was more avant-garde sounding. I’m a big fan of shocking neon pink, AnthologyOne also has a pink tab on the sleeve.

Shivani – The album has some super interesting collaborations with Jonathan Mendelsohn, Thea Riley and Meredith Call again! How was the experience like working with them?

Solarstone – Really great actually, all three were transatlantic collaborations, previously to this album project I’d always insisted that I needed to be physically in the same place as collaboration artists for it to ‘work’ – but once again I was convinced to try something out of my ‘comfort zone’ to mix things up a little. All three of these artists are very technically experienced and precise in the way they record – all three sent me very polished and ‘complete’ sounding vocal parts, lots and lots of harmony layers etcetera – all three tracks were a joy to work on.

Shivani – You are going to be bringing your Pure Trance stage to UnKonscious festival in a few days! What are you looking forward to the most there?

Solarstone – Spending some quality time with Paula (my manager & partner) is what I’m most looking forward to! And also hanging out with Gai Barone, Scott Bond, Factor B and Lostly who are joining me on the Pure Trance stage. Also I’ve never been to Phuket, have heard so much about the place over the years, I can’t wait! I’m playing in Manila on the preceding Friday which will be a nice warm up.

Shivani – 2017 was a year where we saw a resurgence of trance with stages promoting the genre being featured at major festivals. What do you think 2018 holds for the genre?

Solarstone – I have no idea, as my crystal ball was disposed of after being frequently wrong over the years!

Shivani – What does 2018 hold for Pure Trance?

Solarstone – That I can answer! The Pure Trance movement will continue to grow in depth and sophistication, at least, that’s what I hope for. I have Volume 7 of the compilation scheduled for late October, early November, I still need to decide who to ask to help me compile & mix it!

Pre-order the album here.

Shivani Murthy

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