New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Soneji, a solo alternative music artist based in the San Antonio area, has released his most recent flagship EP album, "Capitulus Duodecim." The record is comprised of only five tracks and is therefore considered by the artist himself an extended-play release, however music fans will be excited to know that "Capitulus..." is an unusually comprehensive EP, containing just over forty minutes' worth of excellent modern alternative folk music of a sort that the underground indie scene hasn't yet heard. Indeed, Soneji's solo work is perhaps the freshest, most raw, unique and roundly excellent material listeners will have heard in years - maybe even decades.
With "Capitulus Duodecim," Soneji is paying homage to the likes of Robert Johnson,
Johnny Cash and R. L. Burnside, who are major influences on his songwriting and style of performance. Their involvement in his artistic process is obvious and wonderful: each recorded track sounds alive and present in the room when played from the album, even though Soneji is not bashful with his effects in production. These effects tend to give his already bizarre and somewhat melancholy tone a level of bleak darkness that conjures black-and-white images of desolation and dread in the listener's imagination.
Sound-wise, Soneji's music recalls some of the greatest blues revisionists of the 1990s, many of whom were often lumped together in the so-called grunge or Seattle movement. Their styles and moods are prominently displayed in his own sound and composing, which makes sense because these artists were writing under the influence of Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, and the other early-American folk musicians, too. One can hear the great Kurt Cobain in Soneji's vocals, although Soneji is himself a very individual character and sounds in no way derivative. His dreary, dirge-like guitar work recalls the black magnificence of Alice in Chains, although truly, this is again the continued thread of the early-American folk players of the midwest. These are, however, not the only perspectives found in "Capitulus..." by any means at all, as it contains too much depth and complexity to fit in a single piece of music journalism.
Soneji's "Capitulus Duodecim" is sure to be his first and last release as an independent musician, as anyone with an ear can deduce from two minutes' listening. It is available online worldwide beginning February 11, 2013.
The EP "Capitulus Duodecim" is distributed globally by MondoTunes (www.MondoTunes.com) and is available at iTunes or www.top40-charts.com for convenient purchase and download
