VELVET THUNDER

“And now for something completely different”, as the Sage once said! With an intriguing blend of haunting vocals, cinematic dynamics and striking emotional clarity, A.A. Williams has today released an album that moves like a ritual through changing seasons. Solstice finds her standing at the threshold between shadow and renewal, crafting songs that feel carved from storms and starlight. Guitars churn like gathering weather, strings glow with fragile warmth, and her voice rises from quiet confession to sweeping intensity. It’s superbly different!

Having made her debut live appearance at the prestigious Roadburn Festival in the Netherlands off the back of a self-titled EP, A.A. Williams has since toured across the globe with the likes of Cult of Luna, Explosions In The Sky, Russian Circles, Sleep Token and The Sisters of Mercy, as well as establishing herself as a headline artist – including a show at the iconic Queen Elizabeth Hall inside London’s Southbank Centre.

Standout festival appearances have dovetailed with two album releases – 2020’s Forever Blue and 2022’s As The Moon Rests, which both received widespread critical acclaim and put A.A. Williams firmly in the slipstream of the wave of female vocalists taking textured, epic and folk-rooted heavy music into new and progressive directions. A BBC session at the legendary Maida Vale Studios only bolstered her burgeoning credentials.

Not one to rest on her laurels, she has also released a selection of ‘companion pieces’ – a collaborative single with Japanese post-rock titans Mono (Exit In Darkness); a solo covers collection recorded during 2020’s pandemic lockdown Songs From Isolation, that garnered praise from The Cure’s Robert Smith and Billy Corgan from The Smashing Pumpkins for her unique take on their original songs; and perhaps most impressively, 2021’s Arco saw the multi-instrumentalist completely rework her debut EP from rock instrumentation to a string ensemble, utilising her classical training and arrangement skills to stunning effect.

 On this collection, she provides lead vocals, piano, electric guitar and cello, and is joined by Matt de Burgh Daly (electric guitar, electric bass, drums, additional guitar) and Wayne Proctor on drums.

So lets get into the music. I have to confess I’ve not heard her material before but I’m immediately drawn into her spell. Poison has a combination of her soaring vocals, heavyweight chords and an arrangement veering from light to shade and back again that reminds me of Shirley Manson from Garbage, and particularly two Italians – Nicoletta Rosellini from Walks In Darkness and another talented multi-instrumentalist, the one-man-band that is Andrej Kralj, aka A Day In Venice. All very different but gifted at creating an atmosphere. Echoes of these last two musicians will stay with me throughout this album. There is a video of Poison, the frankly disturbing imagery from this accentuates the tone of uneasiness within the song, it’s powerful stuff.

Wolves is next, another fascinating mix of slow softness and slabs of 90’s grunge. Williams says the song describes the blurred lines between dreams and reality, ideas and emotions bleeding across that hazy boundary. The song is at once lush, richly layered, hypnotic, I’m hooked! Little By Little is next, electronica making an appearance in the insistent synth-chords providing the bedding to a superficially very simple arrangement that has Williams’ superb voice up-front augmented by dabs of percussion…before that techno-grungy platform kick in again. The overall effect is cinematic, I almost imagine a Bond Movie sound-track!

Hold It Together has another YouTube video linked to it, produced in the same darkly creative session as Poison by the look of it. A sparse piano accompanies her beautifully haunting vocals, this woman is an exceptional talent! And again, akin to Walk in Darkness and A Day In Venice, the gentility of the song is eventually punctuated by a heavyweight slab of guitar chords that is almost operatic in scope. The song fades with sweet vocal notes, so powerful.

Outlines highlights the impact that a simple arrangement and crystal clear vocals can have. The production and mix is such that you feel A.A . Williams is sat right beside you, singing to a very limited audience – what a voice! Williams is also keenly aware of how less is more in song arrangements, simplicity of this one still holding a sense of mounting tension, that again builds operatically in the middle section before the stark voice plus piano brings us to its conclusion….I’ve Seen Enough continues in much the same vein, an almost painfully simple composition, those mesmerising vocals, a middle section featuring delicate percussive punctuations and cello, and a quiet fade at its end.

The Veil is almost painfully stark in its arrangement, subdues piano work the sole accompaniment to Williams’ wonderful voice. She might not appreciate me for saying this, but there’s more than a touch of Karen Carpenter (!) in the sheer majesty of her voice on this one. Just A Shadow brings the band back in, a heavyweight monster of a number that manages to sound simultaneously dark, threatening, yet somehow uplifting. It’s a return to the operatic slabs of dense guitar work, a prolonged meaty fade completes the effect.

It Won’t Rain Forever continues to provide this weird sense of “cheerful heaviness”. Williams’ voice soars effortlessly above the density of the mix, the bridge sections float nicely in between, another hypnotic number that builds then fades so hauntingly. Breathe continues the sense of “vaguely uplifting”, cello lines to the side adding a melancholy touch. I like the simple but slightly distorted guitar lines here, developing as part of the composition, they provide a distinct edge and counterpoint to the clarity of Williams’ voice. Again, the layers sound as though a synth is involved here, the song creating a sense of dark serenity….The collection is brought to a close by The Gentle Harm, introduced by simple strumming underpinning William’s voice. Sheer vocal power drives this one, a simple piano refrain then being overtaken by another slab of operatic metal chords, a suitably heavyweight crescendo bringing the album to its conclusion.

Drawn from years of global touring, acclaimed collaborations and boundary-pushing reinterpretations, Solstice captures an artist in full command of her craft. The album is intimate yet immense, delicate yet thunderous – that amazing voice guiding listeners through darkness toward a distant dawn. Wonderful stuff, you simply have to give this a listen, you’ll be hypnotised….