Chris Forsyth

Guitarist/songwriter Chris Forsyth got his start in Brooklyn's experimental circles in the early 2000s and slowly grew into a masterful technical player. As the bandleader of Chris Forsyth & the Solar Motel Band, he composed mostly instrumental pieces that channeled both the psychedelic jamming of the <a href="spotify:artist:4TMHGUX5WI7OOm53PqSDAT">Grateful Dead</a> and the precision of art-punk guitar acts like <a href="spotify:artist:0S7Zur2g8YhqlzqtlYStli">Television</a>. Prolific recorded output made for an ever-evolving sound on both solo albums and Solar Motel standouts like 2014's Intensity Ghost.

Forsyth grew up in the New Jersey suburbs, relocating to Brooklyn in the mid-'90s and finding a place in New York's experimental and improvisational scenes. He also played solo, making connections with improv figures like <a href="spotify:artist:0NiVnzdZVyaHThgTofobW2">Derek Bailey</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0Ovok6Sv05ajU7frIiAR0l">Loren Connors</a>, as well as studying guitar under the tutelage of former <a href="spotify:artist:0S7Zur2g8YhqlzqtlYStli">Television</a> member <a href="spotify:artist:7Kry4vMY7xRIGYIhIxSvhh">Richard Lloyd</a>.

After he co-founded the alternative folk act Peeesseye in 2002, he started playing with Phantom Limb & Bison and contributing to the work of experimental artists, often doing improvisational cameos in and around Brooklyn. The long list of artists he has collaborated with includes guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:2OrJFOcDfRysPNR75gbTvQ">Tetuzi Akiyama</a>, vocalist <a href="spotify:artist:4NkfNPTsDtbPntbU1pBYVt">Meg Baird</a>, and trumpeter <a href="spotify:artist:151kdGxCPmdZZqaYsd79F5">Nate Wooley</a>, among others. After releasing a decade's worth of music on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Creative+Sources%22">Creative Sources</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Utech%22">Utech</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Archive%22">Archive</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Unframed%22">Unframed</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Pax+Recordings%22">Pax Recordings</a>, and his own <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Evolving+Ear%22">Evolving Ear</a>, 2011's Paranoid Cat was released on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Family+Vineyard%22">Family Vineyard</a>. The guitarist followed it in 2012 with a duet collaboration with sound artist and composer (and half of <a href="spotify:artist:0p6JzmlJtmzd8I7uEgMOtV">Mountains</a>) <a href="spotify:artist:25dzYc9CX8lGphP4hUtX2D">Koen Holtkamp</a> entitled Early Astral for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Blackest+Rainbow%22">Blackest Rainbow</a>.

In 2013, living in Philadelphia, he released two albums. The first was Kenzo Deluxe for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Northern+Spy%22">Northern Spy</a>, where, with minimal overdubs, he created a jam band record minus the band: it was performed completely solo. Solar Motel followed in October on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Paradise+of+Bachelors%22">Paradise of Bachelors</a>. Here the guitarist traced the instrument's development from <a href="spotify:artist:3QDaXfnxfQqqJQK5lSdjLN">Jerry Garcia</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:4rxXqaQUe5udkRsGRDDDIY">Tom Verlaine</a> and back again. He collaborated with a full band featuring drummer <a href="spotify:artist:4VOg35FwGSQtKyKXwvFLvk">Mike Pride</a>, keyboardist Shawn Edward Hansen, and electric bassist Peter Kerin.

The group situation opened up more possibilities for him. Billed as Chris Forsyth & the Solar Motel Band, they released Solar Live 11.15.13 on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Electric+Ragtime%22">Electric Ragtime</a> in April of 2014. The guitarist also cut a limited-edition duet offering with trumpeter <a href="spotify:artist:151kdGxCPmdZZqaYsd79F5">Wooley</a> entitled Third. <a href="spotify:artist:4VOg35FwGSQtKyKXwvFLvk">Pride</a> left Solar Motel, and Forsyth, Hansen, and Kerin were joined by new drummer Steven Urgo and second guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:2BATlF7iN0eToMP3ev80mH">Paul Sukeena</a> for the studio album Intensity Ghost, which was issued on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22No+Quarter%22">No Quarter</a> in October. A year later, Island was released. Another duet offering between the guitarist and <a href="spotify:artist:25dzYc9CX8lGphP4hUtX2D">Holtkamp</a>, Island was issued by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Trouble+in+Mind%22">Trouble in Mind</a>. A new lineup of the Solar Motel Band, featuring drummer Ray Kubian and guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:6jFrbnAWQErkPNdMF35atI">Nick Millevoi</a>, recorded the double-album The Rarity of Experience, which was issued by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22No+Quarter%22">No Quarter</a> in March of 2016. Forsyth and the Solar Motels took the long way, touring the U.S. and Europe and translating the live experience into a new recording. Dreaming in the Non-Dream, issued in the late summer of 2017, showcased a more focused sound, one that allowed for trance-like, nearly Motorik rhythms and riffs to creep in and unfold over time in the form of trance-like neo-psych. Even with two tracks over 11-minutes long, the album still sounded concise. It was issued while the band was still on the road. 2019 brought the epic double-album All Time Present, released as a solo outing. Clocking in at over an hour, the eight-song album included vocals on some tracks by Forsyth as well as Philly songwriter Rosali Middleman. ~ Jason Lymangrover & Thom Jurek, Rovi