Solo albums from band leaders are funny things. In some ways Roine Stolt feels like the whole of King Crimson’s ’90s period rolled into one person. The man has led a number of different incarnations of his band The Flower Kings (and also falling into different iterations and offshoots of his former band Kaipa), here he takes a subset of his band to record and perform Stolt’s first solo instrumental album. Hydrophonia may seem like it’s coming a decade late from the primetime show of stars like Satriani, Vai, and others, but it also is very much a Roine Stolt album, so consider your view of that before digging further into his brand of guitar album.

I was still kind of in the grip of my Flower Kings fever, and Stolt has been slowly reissuing some of his out-of-print releases via Dutch imprint Construction Records (I also recently picked up TFK’s Waiting for Miracles, so expect that review sometime). Not being available on streaming services, I grabbed both the CD for ripping as well as the new colored vinyl.

This is why it’s advisable to check out music via something like YouTube first.

It starts fairly strong. “Cosmic Lodge” has a definite Satriani vibe, mainly due to Stolt’s guitar tone but he lays out some sweet phrasing in his melody lines and solos that recall Satriani’s ’80s hits, but it’s mixed in with Stolt’s particular way of arranging and orchestrating. The entire album was demoed out alone, and then Jaime Salazar (drums) and Ulf Wallander (soprano sax) were brought in to flesh out the programming. But everything else is Stolt, and while it works across some of the more expansive tracks – the 11-minute “Wreck of HMS Nemesis” is one example – more often than not there are moments that pull me out of the reverie I want when I settle back with an album.

Take a song like “Shipbuilding” which brings to my mind Elvis Costello. A coincidence to be sure, but the first guitar melody sounds so much like “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” it loses me, even as the song slips into something more identifiably Stolt with its intricate sections and flashes of subtle guitar lines. I do like the play on words, and the nautical, sea life-driven song titles, even when they contain sillier moments like “Bizarre Seahorse Sex Attack.” But in the end Hydrophonia – at 68 minutes, no less – feels like a detour and diversion more than a cohesive, integrated album. Hard for bands to accomplish when there are lyrics to tie things together, even harder here.

I would say this is a die-hard fan release only, but as someone who finds himself in possession of about a dozen Flower King releases, not to mention a number of Stolt’s other collaborations and solo offerings (don’t get me started on his “Roine Stolt’s The Flower King Manifesto of an Alchemist”) I’m left wanting here.