SOL3 MIO - Album Review: On Another Note
Sol3 Mio is possibly one of New Zealand’s finest classical music trio at the top of their game. While classical music isn’t my preferred genre I certainly can appreciate the musicianship in it, which is why I decided to take this review on.
Sol3 Mio formed in 2011. The two brothers, Pene Pati, Amitai Pati and their cousin, Moses Mackay. Pene and Amitai are operatic tenors. Moses is the baritone of the group.
On Another Note is the trio’s second album after their highly successful self titled debut album was released in 2013. It is an array of beautiful melodies and cover songs that really show the range of the trio and how well they fuse together with their tenor and baritone voices. The sixteen track album features covers of That’s Amore, a big hit for the legendary Dean Martin back in 1953.
The trio serve this song wonderfully keeping in style with the original.
Elsewhere I was surprised to hear a cover of Tom Jones, Delilah and Ed Sheeran’s I See Fire. Moses’s baritone ringing through so crisp on the former making a real point of difference . Hearing someone else covering Ed Sheeran is something that I’m always apprehensive about but Sol3 Mio really do make it their own, paying homage to our Kiwi culture with the Haka chant peeking its way through in the opening.
Stand out track for me would have to be their cover of Coldplay’s Fix You. I’m not overly a huge fan, but I think everyone can appreciate something of Coldplay and this particular cover is very moving and very well done. The tone of the original is very melancholic but hearing Sol3 Mio’s version is just simply beautiful.
Overall I have a lot of time for this album. I think anyone who gave it a listen would be able to appreciate the talent that Sol3 Mio possess and where it has been taking them. To see success in any genre of music, especially in New Zealand is a great thing to see and hear and hats off to these guys. An easy listening album that I would recommend.
About SOL3 MIO
In some respects their backgrounds are typical – families moving over from Samoa to seek a better life in New Zealand and having to make sacrifices in the process, as well as finding value in music, choirs, hard work and an ability to see the absurdity in life. However, what they have made of these solid, but modest, beginnings is anything but average. Amongst their numerous awards and accolades Pene was the 2010 NZ Performer Of The Year, Amitai won the 2012 Lexus Song Quest and Moses was recognized as an Emerging Artist by the Dame Malvina Major Foundation last year. Though all three have studied for Bachelor Of Music graduates from the University of Auckland, the foundations of the stagecraft that they have added to exceptional raw talent, also comes from a crammed musical CV that spans everything from weekly childhood performances in rest homes, to backing George Benson. It was when Moses and Pene sang in the choir behind Andrea Bocelli in 2008, that their eyes and ears were fully opened to the possibilities of opera, setting them on a course that would lead to the formation of SOL3 MIO, three years later.
Performing together as a trio at Pene’s farewell, after he had been selected to attend the prestigious Wales International Academy Of Voice, an audience member piped up and suggested they should form a group – laughed off at the time, the idea took hold. Within a year, all three had been individually chosen to go to Wales for tuition under the highly esteemed Dennis O’Neill – an incredible opportunity but also one with a combined cost of over $100,000. Rolling their sleeves up, they launched SOL3 MIO with a series of fundraisers, that began with high stress in a half filled hall in Massey High School, and concluded with a triumphant show at a sold out Auckland Town Hall in October 2012 – funds sorted. Now with a self-titled album of their work, beginning naturally with the eponymous Neapolitan song, and ending with a rousing We Are Samoa, the stage is set for the next chapter in what is already, an extraordinary story.
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