Melenas’ Leire Zabala on Solid Space – Space Museum 
While everyone is already wrapping up the year, there’s still some work to do around here, and that includes a new Hidden Gems from Melenas. The band put their heads together for a more collaborative pick, with Leire Zabala taking us deep into the post-punk wilds for an exploration of a long lost album from Solid Space. One listen to the album and its clear how the pick has had an effect on the band and their excellent new album, Ahora. Head into the unknown with Leire and Solid Space.
“Without a shadow of doubt, notes Leire, “our hidden gem is the album Space Museum, by Solid Space. Once this record came to our lives it just haunted us, and we immediately wondered why we hadn’t heard a word about this mysterious band or listened to any of their songs before.”
“The first time I listened to this album I was driving and suddenly the song “Tenth Planet” started to play. I would love to say that this tape reached us long ago when we were at high school but unfortunately it happened many years after that! And it was only due to the “magic” of the algorithm (this is not particularly romantic, sorry for that). Looking back at that day I remember I was suffering from a migraine, and that insistent guitar picking seemed to enhance the pain caused by the ray that crossed my face. Nevertheless, I picked the song, I shared it with the rest of the band and the name Solid Space instantaneously became something we really wanted to know more about. We felt fascinated by this minimalistic-atmospheric post-punk with sparkling melodies, this wonderful consequence of the combination of primitive drum machines and synthesizers with acoustic guitars and toy drums, resulting in songs that are full of emotions, cold and moving, sweet and robotic!”
“”A Darkness in my Soul,” “Destination Moon,” “ New Statue”… this is one of these records where you switch from one favorite song to another as time goes by. Each one of them unveils a different landscape, thanks to their rich sounds and lyrics, which are inspired by the sixties Science-Fiction TV shows, like Doctor Who or Captain Scarlet. We feel really connected to these songs, with the atmosphere, the ingenuity of these brilliant compositions. We really like the contrast between what feels strong and delicate at the same time, and we actually found inspiration for our album Ahora, where we have incorporated drum machines and many more synthesizers than in our previous records.”
“But who were Solid Space, and when and where was the band formed? Did they come from outer space to show us new landscapes from unknown galaxies through their music? Yes they definitely did: the Hidden Gem grew as we became aware of their history, because there’s not much information about the current lives of those two people who started Solid Space in the year 1980, diving into minimal wave at the age of eighteen! In the next two years this British duo — Dan Goldstein (keyboards, vocals) and Maf Vosburgh (Guitar, bass, keyboards, voices) – wrote the songs that would make up the cassette called Space Museum edited by the cult label IN PHAZE. It was recorded on an 8-track studio called The Shed -which was actually a garden shelter.”
“Time went by and these cassettes became an analog buried treasure, which was occasionally recovered, sold as low-quality vinyl records, until 2017, when the record label Dark Entries released a precious reissue of Space Museum. Each song was carefully remastered by George Horn (Fantasy Studios, Berkeley), including two additional tracks from the band’s archives: “Platform 6”, originally released as B side of the second single of their previous band Exhibit ‘A’, and “Tutti Lo Sanno”, which is one of our favorites, since it’s Marine Girls cover, one of our biggest references and idols from the beginning of our band… Our worlds come together!”
“The circle closes, turning the record in a feast for our ears, so we can say (as you could guess by now) that we are absolutely in love of the beauty of these songs, the mystery of the story around them and, of course, its artwork, which shows Cybermen and Zoe from the Dr’s Who episode “The Wheel in Space” (we have even printed it on a t-shirt :). Blessed the day these rescued tracks came to our lives!”
As Leire mentions, Dark Entries has given a new life to the lost LP, and their recent reissue remains in print for those looking to travel the same sci-fi saturated roads that have inspired Melenas. It’s an excellent paring with the band’s new album for Trouble in Mind, one of the year’s most captivating pop records.
Support the artist. Buy it HERE.