There are a lot of bands in Oakland looking to the early Nineties for inspiration. You'd think the only records these kids had were Loveless and Nowhere. Softie are another in this line of acts valiantly attempting to put their stamp on nebulous shoegaze forms. They succeed, I guess, on Somersault, their new EP.
Opener "Kiss Kiss Kiss" is fantastic. It's a riot of noise, and it sounds like two different songs are being played at once. I kinda loved that. Elsewhere, "2 Tired 2 Sleep" is so much in thrall to MBV that Kevin Shields is likely to demand royalties, while "Don't Look Down" is more of the same thing, but better. This one at least looks to the Tremelo EP from MBV for inspiration, instead of to Isn't Anything or Loveless.
I'm old enough to have bought all the records that inspired this one when they were new, likely before these musicians were even born. That said, I liked this in a way. It's a damn noisy record and Softie earn points for the numbers here which are just a cacophonous mess (in a good way). This may not be very original stuff, but at least this outfit attacks the material with a lot of gusto, and find new ways to crank up the amps and stomp on the effects pedals.
Somersault by Softie is out now via Cherub Dream. Details below.
[Photo: Bandcamp]