Through the Caspian Label on February 16
A band like The Soft Pack have been a long time coming indeed.
In a musical climate currently overflowing with flavour of the month hipsters, overblown pomp-rockers and fleeting pretenders to the pop throne, the San Diego- raised, LA-based quartet of Matt Lamkin (vocals, guitar), Matty McLoughlin (guitar), David Lantzman (bass) and Brian Hill (drums) play a refreshingly stripped-down, revved-up, no-frills brand of raucous rock and roll that, for all of its nods to the past, sounds, miraculously enough, sharply modern yet effortlessly cool, cutting a swathe through anything else out there in the process.
After only cementing the line up in February, The Soft Pack originally called the Muslims stormed CMJ in New York, packing out venues both big and small, generating breathless coverage in everything from the New York Times to Rolling Stone, and landing coveted supports with the likes of The Breeders, The Last Shadow Puppets, Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand. Now, the UK will get their first scintillating taste of The Soft Pack this side of the pond with this, their debut single.
So A side Nightlife crashes through like an adrenaline shot straight to the cerebral cortex, while B side Bright Side swaggers with a ragged, propulsive charm. Taken together, it is a potent double hit of good old-fashioned incendiary rock and roll, the kind they dont make any more; the kind that is primed and ready to set 2009 ablaze. Light the touch paper and stand well back.
In a musical climate currently overflowing with flavour of the month hipsters, overblown pomp-rockers and fleeting pretenders to the pop throne, the San Diego- raised, LA-based quartet of Matt Lamkin (vocals, guitar), Matty McLoughlin (guitar), David Lantzman (bass) and Brian Hill (drums) play a refreshingly stripped-down, revved-up, no-frills brand of raucous rock and roll that, for all of its nods to the past, sounds, miraculously enough, sharply modern yet effortlessly cool, cutting a swathe through anything else out there in the process.
After only cementing the line up in February, The Soft Pack originally called the Muslims stormed CMJ in New York, packing out venues both big and small, generating breathless coverage in everything from the New York Times to Rolling Stone, and landing coveted supports with the likes of The Breeders, The Last Shadow Puppets, Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand. Now, the UK will get their first scintillating taste of The Soft Pack this side of the pond with this, their debut single.
So A side Nightlife crashes through like an adrenaline shot straight to the cerebral cortex, while B side Bright Side swaggers with a ragged, propulsive charm. Taken together, it is a potent double hit of good old-fashioned incendiary rock and roll, the kind they dont make any more; the kind that is primed and ready to set 2009 ablaze. Light the touch paper and stand well back.
