“They’re the people I forever want to make music with”: The Sound and Story of Solar Flora
- Lauren Juillerat
- Mar 13
- 4 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
By Caydie Tampac
Photos by Lain Vallieres
A hauntingly beautiful voice against the layered, dreamy reverb of guitars swirls into the mesmerized ears of the audience, who wonder if they are still at the backyard music venue of Dawghouse. It’s as if they somehow have been sent to a celestial city: immersed in a spellbinding daze, all of their worries fading away.
That is the bewitching state that the Tahoe band Solar Flora entrances you in. With the raw grittiness of rock and the ethereal vocals of shoegaze, Solar Flora embodies the experience of love in all of its forms — yearning, heartbreak and devoted adoration.
Solar Flora is made up of Daisy Grajeda (lead vocalist and lead guitarist), Ernesto Aguilar (bassist), Itzel Lopez (rhythm guitarist) and Victor Fuentes (drums). The band formed unexpectedly in 2020 when Grajeda and Fuentes would have casual jam sessions, one day inviting Aguilar to play bass, even though Grajeda shared he had little to no experience playing bass when he joined.
After rocking out with each other, they wanted to share their music with their friends. To play a show, they needed to have a name, and so became the birth of Solar Flora in March 2023.
Grajeda, Aguilar and Fuentes have played alongside each other for several years as part of a band together prior to Solar Flora. Grajeda highlighted their growth together as musicians and as friends, having been classmates with Fuentes since elementary school.
“I feel like not only are these my best friends in the world, but they’re the people I forever want to make music with,” Grajeda said.
Fuentes added, “And then with having Itzel here, it’s just adding more fun. We connect with music.”
Lopez soon joined in March 2025 after hearing from an old friend that they were in search of a rhythm guitarist. With the lack of bands in South Lake Tahoe, she shares her gratitude for being given the opportunity to create music with gifted individuals who she once went to school with.
“They’ve been really welcoming,” Lopez said, “They’re like a new family that I just gained.”
Since then, Solar Flora has released four singles and one EP. The themes behind Solar Flora’s songs have mainly centered around love. Recently, however, she has been writing more personal songs for herself. Released on July 12, 2025, “let it spill” is a sentimental song written by Grajeda that sets itself apart from their romantic discography, as it centers around the feeling of loneliness and boredom.
”I feel that’s equivalent to emotions where you build them up and out of nowhere, at some point, they will come out and spill,” Grajeda explained.
Their latest single, “at times”, illustrates carrying feelings for a certain person until time and distance drift you apart, until you only remember and reminisce about the past.
Grajeda expanded, “You kind of forgot about them because they haven’t reached out to you. They haven’t been present for so long that you kind of forget that they ever existed.”
As Solar Flora’s lyricist, Grajeda draws her words from her own life as she writes in her bedroom and dips into the old memories.
The essence of Solar Flora not only comes from Grajeda’s lyrics, but from the DIY process of the other band members as well. Fuentes revealed that when they record songs, rather than doing it in production studios, they record instrumentals on voice memos and combine them.
“For me, as someone who loves sound, it was just so much fun to mix,” Fuentes commented.
Rather than utilizing microphones and equipment to record songs, he prefers to make use of what he has, crafting a unique sound by listening, learning and “making something out of nothing.”
Aguilar shared how the members’ diverse music taste allows them to weave in different genres and sounds to create the distinctiveness of Solar Flora.
Strengthened by the nostalgia of youthful school days and bonded through their passion for music, their Mexican heritage is another special element that unites them further.
“We bond through that,” Lopez shared, “It’s like another family, too. It’s just really comforting that we’re all from the same homeland.”
This makes opening for a band originating from Mexico especially dear to their hearts. Grajeda noted how there is a stereotype of all Hispanic music sounding the same way, and Solar Flora intends to break the mold and show more representation in the alternative rock music scene.
To those who hope to create music, Solar Flora says that it is as simple as making it on your phone and posting it on SoundCloud. There is no pressure to hold yourself up to strict expectations or to be concerned over other’s opinions. Aguilar expressed that everyone’s taste in music is different and every kind can undoubtedly hook someone in, no matter how small you are.
”More or less, you don’t need a big following to grow. More or less, just stay true to your sound, and people will pop up,” Aguilar said, “There’s always someone for some.”
In Fuente’s experience, there was once a point in time where the mindset of reaching success clouded his mind, until he stepped back and thought, “Hey, this is just for fun. At the end of the day, I just love music. I just love playing music.”
Music is a realm of art, self-expression, connection and community, and Solar Flora emphasizes being true to your sound and enjoying what you’re doing.
You can listen to Solar Flora on Spotify and Apple Music.
Edited by Malory Shaw
