A while ago, New Caledonian label Mangrove already offered us the 'Knky Reggae' compilation and a new album by local band Kass Pa, and now they're present new work by Onetox and Stan And The Earth Force, bands from the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
'We're Still Here', the new long player by popular Solomon Islands band Onetox, apart from a single ganja tune ('Green Bag'), a dancehall-light track ('Got What You Want') and with 'Liquor' even an ode to tequila (!), mostly contains poppy lovers tunes (opener 'Come With You', 'No Worries', 'Cool Cool Feelings', 'Letters From My Heart'...). The whole is reminiscent of American reggae acts like Rebelution or Through The Roots, but we just found it all a tad too commercial.
We were much more taken with Stan And The Earth Force, a band around singer-songwriter and producer Stanley Antas from Port Vila in Vanuatu. The track list of 'Half Way Up', the band's third album, is mostly made up of solid roots songs, including a successful update of Bob Marley's 'Catch A Fire' (on 'Half Way Up' called 'Move'), the solid opener 'Ever Living King' driven by a wailing rock guitar, the excellent title track 'Half Way Up', but also contains a few decent lovers tunes like 'Empress Divine' or 'Natural Thing'. The best tune on 'Half Way Up' is "hidden" all the way at the bottom of the track list, because there we found the energetic bonus track 'Skank Marathon'. For the album Stan And The Earth Force even went interactive: "Fans had the ability to design the album art by sending in their personalized designs or the text "half way up", which were then lifted and placed onto the album cover...". Normally 'Half Way Up' should have been released much earlier - predecessor 'Jah Love Is Evermore' already dates back to 2014 - but cyclone Pam, hitting Vanuatu with devastating consequences in 2015 put a temporary hold on their plans. Stan And The Earth Force are proof that even in remote areas like Vanuatu they know what good reggae should sound like!