Described by 25-year-old chief songwriter, Luke Rathborne, as youthful and lustful, “SOFT” is a tipped hat to “punk” and how the genre has (or hasn’t) morphed over the years. Produced with the help of Emery Dobyns (Battles, Antony & the Johnsons), Gus Oberg, and Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes), Rathborne’s debut album is dirty without being sloppy and is an impressively mature offering from a band so young.
“SOFT” is injected with classic rock band familiarity. You can taste a bit of Guided By Voices, some Tom Petty, a dash of The Pixies, and maybe even a bit of vintage Elvis Costello. The tracks segue from garage-band to New Wave to folk-rock and while it may seem like that would sound disjointed, the album still makes sense as an actual album. Even with “Little Moment” sounding like… dare I say it?…Simon & Garfunkel, some underlying string woven into the pattern of “SOFT” pulls all the pieces together.
Rathborne wails out in poetic lyricism against taut and jagged guitar riffs. The album’s opener and title track, “Soft”, feels blatantly ironic with a heavy-hitting and distorted melody. “What More” is a Petty/Costello lovechild, while “I’m So Tired” is like a Buddy Holly ballad released during the days of ska popularity. “Eno” and “Low!” are fast-paced jams that get your blood pumping before slowing down to the sweet croons of “Little Moment.” Pace is returned with “Last Forgiven”, where Rathborne bellows out over West coast surf guitar stylings, and “Wanna Be You”, where bassist Darren Will’s and Jamie Alegre bring back the “punk”. Slowing it down a bit for “Deal”, we move on to “Why”, a bold ditty that should come with a warning of inspiring a curious bout of angst. Closing with “So Long NYC”, the final tune stands to contrast the idealized expectations of living in the the city as Rathborne reminisces on some of his more difficult moments after leaving his home in Maine at the age of 18.
Rathborne’s full-length introduction into the realm of music is abrasive, even disjointed at times. But it works. It’s a comforting reminder of the rawness of how music was and paves a hopeful path that a handful of artists may choose to follow. “SOFT” pays homage to those great musicians who didn’t care much about what anyone thought of them. The ones who just wanted to play what they wanted to play. With this album mirroring that same attitude, Rathborne may have earned its own slot on that list of rebellious artists.
Album review by Sarabeth Oppliger. Follow her on Twitter @sarabethster
