Soul Glo – Diaspora Problems review

In 2021 Baltimore skatecore band Turnstile – not that labels are starting to mean much in the fractured mess of the twenties – released Glow On, on which they dispensed with staying inside anyone’s tram lines and in the process redefined themselves as well..undefinable.

Philadelphian quartet Soul Glo are different again, coming from a position of further extremity, but recently signed to the seminal noiseworks label Epitaph, their fourth album Diaspora Problems finds them making a similar revolutionary leap forward in scope and accessibility. The title and much of it’s subject matter refers to the existential pursuit of a higher shared consciousness, but it’s rawness and kinetic energy mean that this is only a cerebral record if the listener chooses to make it one.

Whilst inevitably much of the focus surrounding Diaspora Problems will be on singer Jordan Pierce as he transmits rage and resignation in equal measure, it’s creative pan and diverse vista is bolstered by collaborators that give it a unique, thought provoking identity.

This conscious broadening of perspective allows viciously hybrid tracks like Driponomics to function at an elevated level, whilst Jump (or get jumped) (by the future) will still get you hard elbowed in a mosh pit. But it’s the closer Spiritual Level Of Gang Shit that shows how far you can come in fourty minutes, it’s stoked up brass section and funk riffs taking the lid off yet another cultural jar. The events of even yesterday feel like ancient history in these times. In response Soul Glo have made a record for tomorrow.

You can read a full review here.