The solo album is a multifarious beast: It can appear after your band has broken up, after your band has "broken up," while your band is on hiatus, or while your band is still active. Solo artists likewise come in all colors and flavors: a guy and with a backing band, a lone songwriter couched within a larger collective, or an artist sprung from a larger collective.There you have it: every single possible scenario under which a solo album can occur. My questions, then, are these:
What makes a solo album a solo album? Is the solo album the result of restless creativity, is it the result of ego, or is it simply the desire to do something unfettered? Can one consider a Britt Daniel solo album without looking at it through the prism of Spoon? How different would James Mercer's first go-alone be from, say, Chutes Too Narrow? Does it even have to be different? Whom would you most like to see release a solo album?
--Brian Herrmann
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