- Words Ben Broyd
- Photography Lennon Gregory
We caught up with Sol Paradise to find out his creative inspirations, which icons he’d love to sit down with, and the rising artist's aspirations for the future.
Welcome to Fresh Face, a quick-fire interview series spotlighting the best rising talents in today’s youthful music scene. From biggest pet peeves to party tricks and death row meals, we’re stripping things back from the formal Q&A format. Think of it like speed dating, but with some of the freshest music makers worth discovering.
London based singer, songwriter and genius instrumentalist Sol Paradise has been firing his way up the musical ranks in the past couple of years through incredibly hard graft, regular studio sessions and occasional meetings with mother nature to inspire himself and allow his creative spirit to flourish. It is fairly evident when listening to Sol’s music that he is truly captivated by the contrast between urban and rural life, and the two often act as the creative spark that ignites each project that Sol Paradise engages in.
Sitting somewhere in between the Alternative genre with added elements of jazz, what began as a bedroom project whilst Sol was at university, has now blossomed into a reality through his strong creative prowess, where he now plays with a 7-piece band for live shows, featuring a saxophonist, a flute player, and his own immaculate guitar playing skills. Aside from his electric live shows, Sol also released his sensational EP ‘Forest’ back in 2021 and is due to follow it up very soon with what we can only imagine will be of equal quality to the previous EP.
To get a better understanding of what makes Sol Paradise tick, we sat down with him to ask him the big questions on what inspires his creative process, icons he’d love to sit down with past or present and aspirations for the future.
How many instruments can you play?
Guitar and trumpet are my main ones, but I also play a bit of piano and drums as well.
Favourite thing about playing live?
I’ve got a 7-piece band playing with me at the moment, so that means the energy on stage is always great. Looking around and seeing the rest of the guys vibing motivates me a lot.
Three things that inspire your creative process?
Being outdoors, reading and climbing.
You can read one book for the rest of your life, what is it?
The Power of Now, I would recommend it to everyone. It has definitely helped me a lot.
What can’t you live without?
Access to good areas of nature.
If you had a time machine, what decade would you visit?
Being in California in the 70s wouldn’t be too bad.
Where do you go to relax?
The park near my house, it has some incredible trees. We’re so lucky in London to have really great green spaces.
If you could sit down with three icons from the past or present, who would they be?
Nan Shepherd (outdoors writer), Quincy Jones, Fela Kuti.
If there was a film about your life, who would play the main character?
Maybe I’d do a Nicolas Cage flex and act as myself.
Biggest goal for 2022?
Keep happy and healthy, and release a second EP in the summer.