Joe Wilson and Tom Kingston don’t draw a line between the music they make as a band and the scores they compose for film and TV. Or if they do, it’s a faint one. As Solomon Grey, the classically-trained long-time friends have a sensual, cinematic sound that is their calling card for both, a beguiling blend of synths and orchestration that can evoke any emotion, capture tiny moments in time and summon scenes both real and imagined.
Fresh from their latest big-budget, TV-screen success as composers of the soundtrack to BBC One’s The Last Post – Peter Moffat’s lavish, six-part, 1960s-set drama – Solomon Grey are back being a band, but only their focus has shifted. Human Music, their second album, is as powerful and ambitious, as visual and visceral as their sought-after soundtrack work.
Sonically, there are parallels between Human Music and The Last Post score. The same 22-piece, Hungary-based orchestra played on both. A vintage CS-80 synthesiser was central to the two. The dynamic Clouds appears on both, albeit in different versions with diverse purposes. Experiences from each influenced the other – not surprising as they were written at the same time, with Solomon Grey sometimes switching between the projects on a week-to-week or even day-to-day basis.
This is a seated show.