Selected Press

“A restlessly inquisitive mind, both musical and poetic. Her formidable creativity is apparent at all times.”
—Critic’s Choice, Opera News (U.S.A)

“Lara Solnicki continues to map new intersections for literature and improvised music.”—Editor’s Pick JazzTimes (U.S.A)

“The One and the Other is an unexpected thrilling listen, with an unpredictability that belies its polished nature. It’s fascinating to hear Lara Solnicki develop the architecture of these songs with such wit and control and a prog musicians’ sense of narrative.”—The Wire Adventures in Sound and Music (U.K)

“She has a musical universe that is hers alone. By confronting texts and music as she does, one feels the emergence of strong tensions that structure the narrative patterns. As for her voice, she is inhabited by a strange world whose chiaroscuro interiors express a wide range of sensations, to say the least bewitching. Don’t miss this rare musician and poet. “ —Culture Jazz, OUI (France)

“As a singer, Solnicki is an expressive wonder. Her delivery is marked by a precision that allows her to infuse meaning into every syllable.” –JAZZIZ (USA)

“Rarely is unpredictability so seamlessly juxtaposed with concrete, vivid imagery as it is on Lara Solnicki’s ‘The One and the Other’; with Solnicki’s latest release, the payoff is in the parade of startling before-and-after images, and the logic in which they flow into one another—especially when it seems improbable that they would. There are some genuinely stunning moments on this recording.” —The Best Jazz on Bandcamp (U.S.A)

“The Canadian vocalist, composer and poet Lara Solnicki was blessed with an exquisite vocalic articulation and the art of poetry, as well as an impressive ability to blend genres. Solnicki makes every line a new experience, turning herself loose with a spontaneous sense of narrative and a transfixing experimental.”—Jazz Trail (U.S.A)

“Lara Solnicki is able to present disintegration in an orderly and understandable fashion.”
—All About Jazz (USA)

“Staying a thousand miles away from a certain too inflated and dusty image. Almost as a paradigm, how much you can stay away from clichés even while carrying out a treacherous profession like being a jazz singer.” 
—All About Jazz (Italy)

“Solnicki is a master in her own modern and post-modern poetic mode which makes powerful use of the techniques of discontinuity, surprising imagery and juxtaposition of images, and sudden unexpected leaps of thought and mood. The originality and enigma of the language, within an overall clarity, is involving, and expresses itself first emotionally.” —A.F Moritz, Poet Laureate of the City of Toronto, (2019-2022)

“Perhaps the best compliment one could pay is to note how much The One and the Other stands apart from other vocal-based releases. Strikingly inhabiting a realm that has ties to jazz, spoken word, free improv, and poetry without favoring one over the other, the album distances itself from the kind of music other vocalists, female or otherwise, are creating. If all that makes The One and the Other sound like an ambitious, original, and unusual recording, it closely reflects the artist responsible for itStrikingly inhabiting a realm that has ties to jazz, spoken word, free improv, and poetry without favoring one over the other, the album distances itself from the kind of music other vocalists, female or otherwise, are creating. If all that makes The “One and the Other“ sound like an ambitious, original, and unusual recording, it closely reflects the artist responsible for it.”
—Textura (Canada)

“The One And The Other is a tour de force of immense artistic relevance. A deconstructing experience of usual musical a prioris. It is an exercise in alteration, but always, always connected to a familiar core, be it melodic or atmospheric. She is clearly a most complete artist playing acrobatically with the most diverse influences. Texts are rooted in a very profound comprehension of the worlds of Baudelaire, René Char, Octavio Paz or Sylvia Plath. All those inspiring personas are there, dancing like shadows informing, and being informed by Solnicki’s vast creative instincts.” —Pan M 360 (Canada)

” In any hidden corner of a song on the album you can find a surprise. Solnicki has an excellent vocal technique, purity in her voice, a great vocal range that allows her to go from joy to sadness, from love to hate, from purity to evil, from pain to ecstasy, in short, she can express a multitude of moods without the slightest effort.”
—La Habitación del Jazz (Spain) 

“The gorgeous clarity illuminating each sung note at times hovers above, or plunges into, the instrumental landscape. The lyrics demand active, concentrated listening, with text and music that surreptitiously undermine each other’s affect to suggest a complex world of half-truths. “—Musicworks (Canada)

“Leaves the listener washed up on a paradisiacal shore, having passed through a vortex of emotions, images and the sublime glory of words and music.” —The Wholenote (Canada)

“The One and the Other, is a true masterwork that sets the bar on all of her future work uncommonly high. It’s full of glinting lights, mysterious depths, expectations, frustrations, doubts and hopes. Every once in a while you come across an artist [the poetics of] whose musicianship makes your heart skip a beat. There is simply no one like her.” —That Canadian Magazine (Canada)

“This is one of the year’s early standout albums.” —All About Jazz (U.S.A)