Lines

 

Soft Science

Lines

(Shelflife)

Ever since I was lucky enough to find Soft Science’s debut album, High and Lows, in 2011, I have been unabashedly in love.  Their fourth album, Lines, has now been out for about a month and it only affirms my continuing passion for their music.  The occasion has also provided me with the unnecessary excuse to go back and listen closely to their previous offerings.  What I’ve learned with this re-discovery tour is that they are actually better than I remembered, and that what I wrote about their second LP, 2014’s Detour: “in a subtle way they have tightened all the unnoticed loose screws and polished the surface,” amazingly holds true!  They continue to refine.

Lines plays like a legendary band’s best of/singles collection.  Their dreamy songs here lean more towards radio ready pop singles (is that a thing anymore?), and personally, I think that’s their biggest strength.  With their urgent and endlessly catchy song “Still,” my favorite song from their 2018 third album, Maps, Soft Science found the key to what sounds like effortless greatness. 

The melodic lead guitar line to “Grip,” along with the insistent bassline and Katie Haley’s perfect vocals, get me wanting to dance and completely lose myself in the amazing sounds.  It continues on from there.  “Deceiver” is like a favorite single I swear I already knew upon first listen (is that a cowbell?).  All three pre-LP singles are here: the buzzing “Sadness,” the rumbling, almost House of Love-like (Butterfly cover) “Kerosene,” and my early favorite “True,” with its words of betrayal.

With each album, Soft Science have included more keyboards which, instead of distracting or compromising their sound, has emphasized and enhanced what they already do well.  Somehow it has made their sound both more spacious and dense at the same time.  Songs like the heavy opener “Low” and its matching bookending closer “Polar,” along with the almost atonal saturation of “Stuck” and the dreamscape of “Zeros,” all remind me a little bit of excellent Spanish indie poppers Linda Guilala and their psychedelic overloads.

It is incredibly satisfying to see Soft Science getting so much attention for their new album!  Sadly, in this day and age, I don’t really know what that means.  We can all create our own little media focus, so I fully realize that I see Soft Science news, and most people likely do not.  I hope this changes.  I wish them great success and encouragement to keep our lives filled with their great music.  If you are not familiar with Soft Science and their lovable music, I strongly urge you to check them out for yourself.  All of their albums are a great place to start. 

 (https://softscienceband.bandcamp.com/)

Soft Science "True"