Soleil Carrillo – “Duality” – the full flowering of a major talent
Soleil Carrillo was raised under a Panamanian music producer, which has heightened his ambitions to produce music of his own. Carrillo’s childhood helped influence his musical interest where he would travel with his father to and from his job at a local Phoenix radio station, and meet all of the artists on his father’s music label. Soleil began to pave his own path by taking up the cello in the 4th grade. He has been continually honing his skills, and is now a senior first chair cello at Horizon High School. He plans to minor in music while he attends university.
Soleil Carrillo released his first chill house song in May of 2019 called “Cello House”, and then followed that up with his sophomore deep house single “Go Awf”. The house genre is a favorite of Carrillo, but on his new album “Duality” he chooses to expand his music palette to other music genres. With an exceptional creative spirit and a highly refined sound, Carrillo blesses this woeful last year with great electronic record. “Duality” is as colorful as it is vibrant and attention-grabbing.
Right from the track, “Casanova”, Soleil Carrillo seems to put the whole world onto his bassy thumping beat that wraps itself around the listener’s ear like a giant cushion, unashamedly telling them to focus on the tonal inflexions and grooves, by cutting out any excessive instrumentation and bombastic noise. Carrillo’s level-headed mixing puts a priority on subtle tweaks. This is a track that can literally played anywhere depending on your mood, and the level of the volume knob.
Soleil Carrillo’s unique synthesis of electronic, dance, hip-hop, and pop music make for an album packed with simultaneously chill and hyped-up tracks. The kick and clap beat of “Drama” ft. The Neighbors, showcases rapped verses and some crunchy overdriven guitar, for an eclectic urban mix. The flow on the track feels effortless, perfectly blending with the arrangement. It shows that Carrillo has both an astonishing range and exceptional control as a producer.
Klippa brings some tight rhyme schemes on “Hurricanes”, where Carrillo maintains a lean restrained backdrop driven by handclaps and light percussion, which leaves plenty of room for the rapper to shine.
“Martial” comes out of the blocks with a banging beat and high-end energy. The track is more bombastic than its predecessor, while its instrumental freedom and euphoric synths are nothing less than infectious. It sounds a little like the full flowering of a major talent.
“Myriad of Money” is another rap-driven track underscored by Soleil Carrillo’s playful but carefully thought-out beat. He once again shows how he uses featured artists as extra musical textures, as he lets them paint their lyrical details onto his electronic canvas. “Passion” sees Carrillo forge another inspired and exotically flavored instrumental. Here he has captured a confident intimacy.
The drums are knocking, and propulsive. The bass line is agile. The vocals interludes are clear, soothing and unhurried in their delivery. “Passion” is much more than the sum of its parts; it’s a showcase of Soleil Carrillo’s talents as a producer, an arranger, and a composer.
On this EP he has created a space where he refuses to be labeled, dodges the one-size-fits-all model and unapologetically paves his own path forward with each new track. On “Duality”, the young artist has shown vision beyond his years and more than masterful production in studio.
