The Silos Florizona

This ten track self-released album marks the 10th studio release from Walter Salas-Humara and The Silos – his 20th if you count all the solo and side projects. And like the ground-breaking Cuba 25 years ago, this eclectic mix of stories set against an intrepid musical palette suggests its own country – some outpost of the imagination where a transient population is protected under its own flag.

"Florizona is all about connecting the past with the wisdom of having lived through it”, says Walter.  The album tells universal stories of adolescence and beyond, from the perspective of someone who has moved through time and people. Which is how a spooky reverie like “Coming from the Grave”, an ode to the promise and perfection of youth like “Teenage Prayer”, and a sing-along anthem to desperate fun like “Getting Trashed” can all have the same target in mind. From the pop psychedelia of "White Vinyl" to the border shuffle of "Hold You in My Arms," the sound and images continually conduct an inquiry into what was learned for every true thing gained. 

Florizona is dedicated to the amazing life, extraordinary times, and everlasting memory of Drew Glackin, the long time Silos bassist and guitarist who passed away in 2008 just as the seeds of this album were first being planted, and whose memory is inevitably present in their bounty. Drew's spirit hovers in "On Your Way Home". Sung in a raspy tenor over a downy bed of sustained guitar, this heartfelt homage crashes through the wall of self-imposed melancholy into redemption, celebration and something approaching grace, dragging the rest of the album along with it.  The takeaway -- in the song, the album and Florizona as an emotional landscape -- is a  hard-won joy.

Alternating roar and drone, squalling punk inflected rockers and spacious layered guitars, catchy choruses and poetic verse, the album is introspective and enlightened, yet surprisingly noisy and brash for such veterans. The maturity and wisdom inherent in this music doesn't minimize the sweaty fun to be had.