Fantasy Reality may only be Salvador Santana’s second solo release, but the 32-year-old keyboardist is a seasoned music-industry veteran. Santana honed his rap/singing style leading the Salvador Santana Band for more than four years and toured heavily for his first solo release, 2010’s Keyboard City. Perhaps just as significant is that Santana has toured the world with such powerhouse acts as Ozomatli and, more recently, with his father Carlos Santana.
With Fantasy Reality, Salvador Santana displays an even wider palette of musical textures, ranging from funk and reggae to rap. “Till the Mornin’ Light” is one of Santana’s more accessible tracks – though accessible doesn’t mean light weight.
Salvador Santana’s keyboards are front and center, augmented by Alex Nester. Jared Meeker provides tasty guitar parts, and melds his bass with drummer Blake Cole to provide an upbeat and conventional back bone. Meeker and Nester’s soaring backing vocals keep the funk flowing, while Santana provides a summer inspired, uplifting raps.
“Till the Mornin’ Light,” co-written with Sammy Totah and producer Jared Meeker, is deceptively simple, with more layers than you’d expect in a pop song. Musically, the song is a contrast to the album’s more funky and harder tracks. Its inclusion shows Salvador Santana’s wide range as an artist and composer.
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