Jordan Seven’s “Solid Ground” takes the 7 album to another level, as the single surpasses most efforts of its kind on offer in recent years with a total banger about putting the pieces of broken situations back where they belong and moving beyond the concealing wreckage. The single breaks ground without dismissing Seven’s influences, even if you can’t clearly make any out, it’s more of a familiar songwriting thing. For instance, I could easily liken this to classic and even progressive inclined rock songs of the past by groups like the Alan Parsons Project and others by the sound of it.
Seven is the name of the artist, 7 is the album title, and tracks like “Solid Ground” make it a title worth reckoning with, and it cannot be described on paper because it has the elusive X factor written all over it. But this can take some comparing, which you will do once you can’t shake the contagiousness of “Solid Ground” in rinse and repeat fashion. These days a song can play until it gets through, or you’ve just had enough for the time being, but “Solid Ground” has a rejuvenating quality you don’t hear enough of in this day and age.
“Solid Ground” is nothing short of excellent in every way, from the timeless subject matter and the way it’s utilized in a song, to the brooding pace of the slightly dark music and how they contrast one another. The rest of the songs on the 7 album, by Seven, carry different shades of light and darkness, but “Solid Ground” slices through them for the strongest choice of a single. This is a well chosen process for Seven, and a few listens to the album is all it takes to agree it best represents the album, but it’s not without good company.
The 7 album benefits from “Solid Ground” in a way that keeps it enticing, thanks to Jordan Seven’s songwriting and performing prowess in the studio, begging the listener to hear or witness live, and not all music manages to do that in the post-pandemic era. The overall musicianship of Jordan Seven is what obviously makes the album and “Solid Ground” work so well, as it commands the ears for more where Seven came from. I could use ten songs a month like “Solid Ground” as it plays over and over without tiring, and goes the distance instead.
This independent rock artist aligns with the indie rock sound, but it also goes beyond the some of the occasional pedestrian trappings of that genre, so I would classify it as modern-classic rock, if the shoe fits. Jordan Seven is also a gifted producer that knows a good sound when he hears it, and the 7 album proves his skills in the engineering department as well. “Solid Ground” just manages to exemplify the album with the most of what Seven has to offer on the whole, which is more than meets the ears, especially if you like vintage styles mixed with current sounds.
Chadwick Easton