THE SOFT

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Usually when an artist describes themselves as “ambient shoegaze” it would act more like a repellent for this blog, causing us to quickly immerse ourselves in something ass-kickingly rocking, like Led Zeppelin’s Good Times Bad Times, or Slayer’s Raining Blood, or we’d rush off to swag around with a turned-up-to-eleven blast of Ante Up, or any other musical equivalent to receiving a bucket of water facially. It’s not that we’re particularly against that style or genre of music, but most of it is so heart-stoppingly piss-poor that it mostly bores our souls into a coma and we find ourselves desperately reaching for something to plug ourselves back in. Bedroom producers both sides of the Atlantic have churned out the drifting, sloth-paced haze for years now and only on the very rare occasion does an artist actually hold our attention long enough to stop our fingers hovering over the delete buttons. Today we deliver to you a new group that’s successfully avoided the index finger of doom. These guy’s are doing it just right.

Not to be confused with The Soft Boys, or Soft Cell, or The Soft Pack, or anyone else guiseing up as something cushion-esque, this is The Soft, an un-signed trio from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, consisting of Henry Morris, Zander Fletcher and William Glass. They seemed to drift in and out of a handful of music sites early last year, after Cave Chorus Records put out a digital copy of their tune, Mind Fuck. And what a mind fuck it was! It showed off the kind of stop-you-in-your-tracks beauty that they’re capable of, although inexplicably it’s no longer on their Soundcloud. It’s worth hunting out though, as it’s cruising groove and middle-class, Mirrors-like vocals have charm and grace poured all over them like smoke from a dry ice machine. Sure you could attach the usual descriptors, such as “ambient” and “shoegaze” to it, as they enjoy their music to wave up to the beach like liquid and there’s perhaps an over-use of the echo button on samples, but like The Weeknd, or before them Washed Out, they always place their mostly-gentle riffs and well-considered hooks and breaks in the perfect positions. The vocals also give the music a welcomed focus.

Take their song, Tropisms, which starts out like a broken robot’s alarm that’s trying to get its owner’s attention, before they introduce a bassline that’s as smooth as a (Lemon) jelly mould expands in the background. The calming, English voice, sung by Henry Morris, then rounds off the tune like a Hot Chip ballad. Synths and samples break up the gossamer in sharp stabs, but it never comes apart at the seams. It’s a difficult set of plates to spin in one song, but they manage it masterfully, as he calls to a close the words, “I wish I was your tessellation“. Half Breath is also of a minimal design, utilising what sounds like a ping pong game in slow motion as a rhythm, developing a slightly more melancholic colour palette, as Zander Fletcher sings of taking the blame. It soon drops in a pulsating beat, once again puncturing the mist with gorgeous details. It’s a tune that’s also had an enjoyable remix completed by recent Recommendees, Sundae Club, (who we think have just given us the exclusive first listen below). Like all decent remixes, they’ve created something fresh from the broth of the original, introducing an almost Visage-esque, 1980s Fade To Grey backdrop.

There are other tracks available to hear on their Soundcloud, mostly taken from their six-track Hot Summer EP, which was released at the end of 2011. It has many other highlights, such Venus Breath, which confirm to us that they have an understanding, well beyond their young ages, of how to marry melodic electronics with an otherwise ambient buffet. You see, rather remarkably, this trio got in touch with The Recommender recently and explained to us that they’re all only 18 years of age and just coming to the end of their last year at Sixth form! Once they get through school they plan a full touring assault on the UK, assuming they can continue to garner enough coverage and traction in the music media. We think they have enough talent to earn lots more plaudits and with a group that is this inspired with ideas we can expect plenty of new productions from them throughout 2012. “Ambient shoegaze” may well be their choice of genre, but take it from us when we tell you that there are more complex depths and intricate skills on offer with this trio than the pigeon hole suggests. It’s more likely to wake you up rather than put you to sleep, so you can definitely put that bucket of water down. (MB)

THE SOFT – TROPISMS

THE SOFT – VENUS BREATH

THE SOFT – HALF BREATH (SUNDAE CLUB REMIX)

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BEST ALBUMS OF 2011

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  THE WEEKND – HOUSE OF BALLOONS

You don’t visit this blog for it’s R&B expertise. However, you don’t need to be an expert to realise that this artist is making something special in a genre that’s drowned in it’s own self-obsession for years. For it’s cross-over appeal, blurred boundaries and excellent production, no other album this year has sounded so 2011.

  GOTYE – MAKING MIRRORS

It seems Walter De Backer finally located the pop sound that he was always searching for with this album. Whether he’s at a walking pace on tracks like Somebody That I Used To Know, or running along on Eyes Wide Open, he never lets go of your hand in a reassuring journey through his unique pop landscape.

  M83 – HURRY UP WE’RE DREAMING

Albums don’t get much bigger than this, not in the commercial sense, but in the epic, theatrical performance sense. It’s so bloody huge that it would have the 1980s that it’s so clearly channelling quaking in it’s little leg warmers.

  TUNE-YARDS – WHOKILL

As random as raindrops and just as refreshing, this album from Merrill Garbus is a spaghetti junction of ideas, in a recipe only she could create. Layered and multi-faceted, she’s a proper songsmith, as each tune comes bursting out of her in an explosion of creativity. This was the sound of an imagination in over-drive.

  WASHED OUT – WITHIN AND WITHOUT

Ernest Greene might have made us wait longer for his debut album, dowsed in the genre of glo-fi, or the ill-fated, more commonly used piss-take name, chillwave, but our patience was rewarded with a vibrant album that surpassed all others from the genre. By skipping the genre’s potholes of boredom, or it’s often pedestrian pace, he delivered a consistent album that glowed brighter.

HOORAY FOR EARTH – TRUE LOVES

You could argue that this style of synthetic indie is now a little dated, best left on the shelf with MGMT and Empire Of The Sun, but this is a far richer album, with a proper beating heart. They aim their synths at adults, rather than kids, and by doing so have designed a more palatable, mature piece of work.

  METRONOMY – THE ENGLISH RIVIERA

This band didn’t just change it’s members, by introducing Anna Prior and Gbenga Adelekan to the outfit, but the new additions also seemed to free up Joseph Mount’s slick song craft. It still feels like a less-is-more-policy, but although their signature moves of separating out everything are maintained, we still get pop warmth in Joe’s lament to his beloved country. By mixing up experimentalism and classy pop, this was 2011′s most Bowie moment.

  THE HORRORS – SKYING

This is a proper chrysalis album if ever there was one. The emergence from their style-over-substance gothic origins saw the band return with more substance than anyone else. This was the sound of a band discovering their integrity and, quite frankly, cheering up, leaving all the other pretenders, such as Munich, The Lyrebirds and Chapel Club, now looking like they’re driving in the wrong lane with flat tyres.

  WHEN SAINTS GO MACHINE – KONKYLIE

Mixing up fearless electronics with perfect pop, this album delivers with every listen. Like a Scandinavian swallow, it twists and turns, often soaring skywards. It’s an album that reveals many satisfying surprises throughout, and if your foot doesn’t tap along (involuntarily or otherwise) to the anthemic Kelly then we suggest you need re-wiring!

  AUSTRA – FEEL IT BREAK

Like all the best albums you are arrested from the first song. Opening with Katie Stelmanis’s solo vocals on Darken Her Horse was a fine introduction to an album that shines with her exceptional, individual skill. She’s in a class of one with her classically-trained vocals and they peak repeatedly throughout the album. What follows is a beautifully-balanced group of contradictions, that shine on several moments, even beyond the masterpieces that are the singles, Lose It and Beat And The Pulse. She mixes up light and shade in an album that perfectly juxtaposes the genres of gothic and pop. Often ice cold to the touch, like the best bits of The Knife, yet it isn’t without warmth either, as she talks of love and yearning. Beyond the vocal skills, we find a punchy industrial crunch, but it’s softened by keeping the pace at a thrilling disco beat. Their marriage of the synthetic with the ethereal delivers us an album that feels like the sound of a machine with a heart. It’s music for serious grown ups, who like to dance, and dance we did. We feel it’s a mature album that deserves celebrating, and just like all the classic albums of the past, it’s definitely one that we will return to time and again.

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