Album Review: SOJA embodies the communal collaboration of reggae music with their new album "Beauty In The Silence"

Photo courtesy of SOJA/ATO Records. Photo credit: James Lathos.

What sets reggae apart from other musical genres is its deep sense of community embodied by both fans and artists alike. Instead of being fueled by competition, the extended reggae family wants to see one another succeed and become their best selves. Attend a reggae concert and you will find smiling faces and open arms from fellow fans. As a reggae artist one is more likely to find success by helping and collaborating with other artists than trying to outdo them. This methodology of positivity and collaboration is what brought renowned American reggae band SOJA together, and is entirely evident in their new album "Beauty In The Silence".

SOJA's story began in a D.C. area basement during 1997, where close friends joined together in helping each other flourish as musicians and begin creating roots reggae music. Fast forward to 2021 and the band has continued this sense of communal creativity by featuring a long list of reggae heavy hitters on their new album. This list includes J Boog, Collie Buddz, Eli-Mac, Common Kings, Rebelution, Ali Cambell, Stick Figure, Mihali, Slightly Stoopid, Nanpa Básico, Dirty Heads, and Eric Swanson.

"Beauty In The Silence" kicks off with the song "Press Rewind", a love letter to reggae music and what it means to SOJA, and featured artists J Boog and Collie Buddz. The instrumentation on "Press Rewind" is a testament to the musicianship and humility of SOJA's eight members. It's not easy to create a song with eight musicians where every member has a part that shines in its own right without overriding the other players' parts, but the band's expertise and long experience playing with one another allow them to write in a way in which every individual composition comes together to create a beautiful song.

Following "Press Rewind" is the track "It's Funny" featuring Eli-Mac and Common Kings. This upbeat reggae tune is paired with lyricism focusing on the journey of the band coming from kids in a basement to becoming the well-known band they are today, and how pushing through and refusing to give up during hardship was imperative to get to the place they are today.

Next on the album is the collaboration with Rebelution and Ali Cambell titled "The Day You Came". Tasteful horn melodies, lead guitar lines, and excellent synth selection work as ear candy for this wonderful song. Rebelution singer Eric Rachmany's voice pairs excellently with SOJA's Jacob Hemphill's vocals like it has on previous releases such as "Here I Am". On the final verse, Ali Cambell jumps in and provides the final necessary piece to this wonderful song about wishing to be back with someone you love.

The fifth track on "Beauty In The Silence" is the incredibly catchy track "Something To Believe In" created with Stick Figure. Right out of the gate this song grabs the listener's attention with a grooving rhythm supporting an awesome and easily memorable horn line. The synth/keyboard decisions are especially great for this song, and the vocals of Stick Figure and Hemphill round out the track to make it one of our favorites on the album.

The most energetic track on "Beauty In The Silence" is Slightly Stoopid's feature "Jump". The song is nothing short of an absolute jam, with drums and percussion working perfectly with keys and steel drum melodies. All of this is supported by excellent bass patterns and guitar work. Miles and Kyle of Slightly Stoopid bring their signature sound to "Jump", with their vocal tonality and lyricism being the perfect combination to such jamtastic instrumentation.

"Reason To Live" is one of the most unique on the album and includes the musical expertise of the Dirty Heads and Nanpa Básico. The song starts with a very cool guitar tone run through a heavy effects chain and contains a beautifully dissonant bend. The first bar sounds like a minor melody, but by the time the melody line finishes and the rest of the instrumentation kicks in it becomes a catchy major progression. The percussion sampling on "Reason To Live" differentiates the track from the rest of the songs on "Beauty In The Silence". Nanpa Basica's Spanish lyricism works perfectly with the music, and the Dirty Head's verse turns "Jump" into a groovy reggae banger.

From start to finish "Beauty In The Silence" is a wonderful listening experience and worth listening to in its entirety. To check out more from the album and find out about SOJA show dates and merch check out www.sojamusic.com

"Jump" by SOJA featuring Slightly Stoopid is the Daily Reggae Song of the Day.

By Chris Lawrie.

Review originally published on September 28, 2021.