The latest instrumental release from Mark J Soler is a gentle stroll where footfalls match the city's heartbeat. The track is featured on his short EP "Walks," a triptych of three pieces that explore various styles of instrumentation and the touches of beauty behind them through the lens of an inner life, a quiet arena where introspection, meditation, and emotional reflection cull our experience each day.
Seated second in the EP, "Walking in the City" follows a well-documented but highly personal ritual, that of walking to shake off heavy thoughts. Soler remakes this ordinary act into something that sounds both meditative and quietly uplifting. The piece unfolds like a gentle journey, reflecting the mental synapse that often occurs during an extended walk, when thoughts unfurl and begin to dig themselves out of their tangle, the outside world feels lighter once more.
Soler is based near Paris and draws inspiration from the city's atmosphere. Its power, beauty, and motion inform the song’s emotional terrain more gently. Rather than reproduce a literal portrait of city streets, the music expresses the inner alchemy ignited by walking through them. It’s less about traffic and buildings, more about the way an environment plays with the mind, how the cadence of a city can lead someone back to clarity and optimism.
Throughout the "Walks" EP, Soler explores themes of desire, regret, acceptance, and memories, different facets of the world we think about as we wander alone. Within that context, "Walking in the City" reads as a kind of turning point on the journey, when reflection begins or ends, returning to broadness.