Sola Rosa on his latest EP ‘New Tomorrows’
Marking 25 years of musical innovation, Sola Rosa returns with an eight track EP that fuses the project’s genre-defying history with a forward-looking vision. Since its inception, Sola Rosa - helmed by Andrew Spraggon - has continuously evolved, embracing funk, soul, reggae, and electronic elements, and exploring fresh soundscapes and collaborators with every release.
HM: Hey Sola Rosa! Thanks so much for taking the time to chat to us about your new music! First of all, we'd love to know about your musical journey from when you first making your own music?
Sola Rosa: My pleasure! My earliest memory of making music was discovering my neighbour's piano - such a magical moment. I kinda knew then that this was what I wanted to do. I used to take after-school jobs to save up for keyboards - my first, at age 11, was a Casio VL-Tone, then a Roland SH-101, and eventually a Roland Juno-106. I played in a band with my friends, covering The Cure, Iggy Pop, Bauhaus, and more. Sometime in my teens, I bought a four-track tape recorder and a drum machine and started making my own music. I must have been around 15 or 16.
HM: Amazing! Who were your main musical and creative influences growing up?
Sola Rosa: My earliest musical memories are of my dad’s Yacht Rock collection and a lot of ABBA and the Bee Gees from my mum. My brothers were a huge influence, introducing me to post-punk, punk, reggae, and more. But my first real obsession was ’80s synth-pop - I was massively into Depeche Mode. Then I got heavily into goth bands (I was a teenage goth… haha), especially The Cure, Bauhaus, Cocteau Twins, and Siouxsie and the Banshees, but also more angular guitar bands like Magazine, Wire and The Fall. Later, in my late teens, I got into a lot of American and UK indie bands like Swervedriver, Fugazi, Sebadoh and My Bloody Valentine. Then I discovered Black music and fell down the rabbit hole of soul, funk, reggae, R&B, blues, and beyond.
HM: Such an incredible array of genres there! And congrats on your new EP 'New Tomorrows'! What themes were important for you to write about for this project?
Sola Rosa: Thanks! I don’t really go into a project with any specific themes in mind. I usually just know what I don’t want to do, which is often a reaction to the previous album - ideally I never want to repeat myself. Since I don’t write the lyrics, I leave that to my collaborators. I’ll pitch in if I have to, but it’s definitely not my comfort zone!
HM: We absolutely love your track "The Doesn't Shine" with Joe Probert! How did this collaboration come about and what was the writing process like for this song?
Sola Rosa: Oh cool, thanks! I love that one too! This song went through a bit of a strange metamorphosis. It actually started with me wanting to collaborate with Finn Scholes, an incredible musician (Hopetoun Brown, Tiny Ruins, Neil Finn) who plays multiple instruments, including vibraphone - an instrument I love. I recorded the demo with him, but it ended up just sitting there for a while because I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Later, I revisited the track and felt it needed live drums, so I got into the studio with Julien Dyne and Michael Howell on bass, which really brought it to life. As for the vocal, I was working with keyboard whiz Joe Kaptein, and he mentioned this guy, Joe Probert, who was visiting from the UK and suggested I check him out. I liked what I heard, so I reached out and sent him some beat demos. He came over to my home studio, and we worked on a couple of them - “The Sun Doesn’t Shine” came out of those sessions.
HM: Awesome! Another incredible track is "Cypress Tree" featuring AKOSIA! Can you tell us about the inspiration behind this song?
Sola Rosa: This song originally started as just a beat demo. While I was in Melbourne on a collab trip, I arranged to meet up with the featured artist, AKOSIA. I played her the demo, and she jumped on it right away. She works incredibly fast with lyrics and melody - her creativity is next-level. Her themes and lyrics are always interesting, and on this one, perhaps a little esoteric - which I love. As the song developed, it started taking on a haunting quality, reminiscent of “Strange Fruit” by Nina Simone, so I leaned into that with the instrumentation. Huge props to Kenji, whose superb bass and guitar parts really add to the song’s persona, and to Peter Leupolu for his beautiful piano contributions.
HM: Love it! What were some of your main highlights working on this EP?
Sola Rosa: Mostly just the incredibly talented and wonderful artists, players, and musicians I get to work with. It’s these collaborations that really bring this EP to life, without them it would not be what it is.
HM: Who are some of your favourite NZ artists right now and are there any songs in particular that you especially love?
Sola Rosa: I love Spell, Nick Dow, Christoph El Truento, MOLS, Muroki - so much great talent coming through.
HM: Absolutely! And huge congrats on 2025 being the 25th anniversary of Sola Rosa! What's one of the biggest lessons you've learned in your career so far, or one of the best pieces of advice someone has given you along the way?
Sola Rosa: Thanks! I’ve had to learn some pretty tough lessons along the way. No one ever really gave me advice that stuck, but if I had to share anything, it would be this - be humble and be kind to the people you work with. Don’t be a dick, because the people you were a dick to might be the same ones who were actually trying to help you on the way up … and trust me, you’ll meet them on the way back down! Haha!
HM: Haha great advice! And what have you got planned for 2025?
Sola Rosa: So much planned for 2025. There’s the EP and a new album which is finished, mixed, mastered. There’s plans for a new live show, tour, DJ gigs ... it’s gonna be a big one!
HM: Lastly, if you could say one thing to every person in the world, what would it be?
Sola Rosa: To be compassionate, judge less and spread a little love. The world is a pretty messed up place right now. We need love and kindness more than ever.
Thanks so much Sola Rosa! Make sure to follow him on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Spotify or Apple Music.
