By Mike Romero
“You used to be my motivator, now I can’t say that anymore. You denied we were together. I hope he was worth lying for.“
That’s the central message of the groovy new song “Motivator” by Wait Solstice. Wait Solstice is the solo project of Utah musician Jacob Silvester. Dancy and rhythmic, the track is best described as “vindictive bedroom funk.”
You can tell Silvester is a bassist by trade. A member of Velour Battle of the Bands winner Cardinal Bloom, he’s spent ample time honing his skills in studios and sold out shows across Utah. His understanding of groove permeates the song. The track contains ample layers – guitars, swirling synths, drums – all of which are centered around a solid, melodic, unrelenting bass groove. Silvester played everything on the recording, and his fundamental understanding of rhythm shines on each instrument. Drums initially weren’t his strong suit. But Nate Adair, the drummer for Cardinal Bloom, gave him advice on how to write, play, and track the percussion.
Silvester wrote the song last summer while conceptualizing what he wanted Wait Solstice to be. He enjoyed the rhythm of the word “Motivator” and used it as the rhythmic foundation for the whole piece.
As for lyrical content, Silvester drew on past relationships. “I was kind of worried to write a song like this because I’m happily married,” he laughs. “But I had a good conversation with my wife and she said ‘Hey, as long as your angsty songs aren’t about me, we’re good.'”
The song was tracked at Foundation Studios in Manti – which is actually an abandoned milk barn-turned-studio. As a testament to his well-rounded skillset, Silvester mixed and mastered the track as well.
How does his solo work compare to Cardinal Bloom? “I think the overall vibe is kind of angrier than the stuff with Cardinal Bloom, at least for this song,” he says. “It’s definitely funkier. I think the fact that it’s self-produced might give it more of a bedroom-producer kind of vibe as well. If Wait Solstice did a show live, you’d probably get a lot more head-bobbing from the crowd as opposed to just going crazy and jumping around like what happens at our Cardinal Bloom gigs. I also can’t shred like Joey [St. John] or Josh [Thomas] so Wait Solstice will have stronger bass lines.”
A new single entitled “Falling Forward” will drop this summer ahead of a full Wait Solstice EP. Live shows are on the back burner for the foreseeable future. “Because a lot of my time and energy is focused on playing with Cardinal Bloom, Wait Solstice is a great creative challenge for me and it helps me continue honing my production and engineering chops,” Silvester says.
But if Wait Solstice gets a following? Who knows. Maybe live shows will happen sooner rather than later.
Make sure to follow Wait Soltice on Instagram and check out “Motivator” below!
Provo Music Magazine 