Between two two-CD sets by the Flower Kings (the 1997 Stardust We Are and the 1999 Flower Power), guitarist Roine Stolt found time to record a solo album, Hydrophonia. He handles guitars, bass, and keyboards and recruited Flower Kings drummer Jaime Salazar and FK contributor Ulf Wallander (soprano saxophone). An all-instrumental affair, Hydrophonia has at its center an oceanic theme: all song titles revolve around the sea and each track is inhabited by oceanic resonances, from sea shanty-like melodies to more subtle underwater atmospheres. Stolt's writing has rarely been so focused and delicate. He reaches a level of musical beauty in simplicity never found in Flower Kings albums. Less bombastic than the groups music, Hydrophonias is all in its melodies…

The Sea Within - the new art-rock collective comprising of Roine Stolt (Transatlantic, The Flower Kings), Daniel Gildenlöw (Pain of Salvation), Jonas Reingold (Steve Hackett, The Flower Kings, Karmakanic, The Tangent), Tom Brislin (Yes Symphonic, Renaissance, Spiraling, Deborah Harry) & Marco Minnemann (The Aristocrats, Steven Wilson, UK, Joe Satriani) - have announced that their debut self-titled album will be released 22nd June 2018.
Roine Stolt comments on how the project came together: “I think all it started as a suggestion from the record company - putting together a new band, starting fresh, seeing if collective writing could spawn a unique style. Call it a supergroup if you want - I think we can handle that”…

You may know Roine Stolt as the leader and guitar player of The Flower Kings, even though he has a rich and storied past in music since the 70's. You may be unaware that he filled important roles with other groups such as Kaipa and Fantasia. Stolt is another one of those legendary guitar maestros that started off playing the bass, which seems to be more common than not in the development of any artist that plays the six-string. His second solo album The Flower King was released in 1994.
This has a strong Flower Kings sound to it, but other influences include ELP, King Crimson, Kaipa, and Yes. It has very few dull moments on it, is a very enjoyable listen, and one of the best releases of the 1990's. Stolt's performance, not only as a guitarist, but also as a bassist and on the keyboards is extremely well done.

This is Roine Stolt's (The Flower Kings, Transatlantic, Agents of Mercy, Kaipa) double solo CD that’s rootsy and bluesy and very cool. Featuring some lead and backing vocals from Neal Morse, this album has a killer band and is trademark, vintage Roine in all his creative brilliance. This is what Roine says about it: “For a long time I've wanted to do something that is connected with my roots and the way I heard music in my teens. Even the lyrics on this album reflect a spirit that was around at the time, slightly political and as true today as back then. I also wanted to do an album that focus heavily on my guitar playing and in particular the more 60-70's style blues playing with a sound that is closer to clean tube amp than modern overdriven rectified…