For those who don’t know, Soft Speaker are a band from Illinois. Chicago to be particular. "Conditions" is their debut release and it’s not bad. However I must be honest and sate that it is a bit boring.
Sometimes it’s easy to see what a band are trying to do with their music; however they just can’t reach the summit of their climb to the perfect place. Soft Speaker seem to be one of these bands. They are climbing hard, yet however hard they try they can't reach the top.
First song “Mercury Park” is great. It is a melting pot of Pavement meets Phoenix in a really relaxed, guitar based way. The band sings together in a comfortable, melodic fashion although I must state that in quite a few places I found the instruments would start over powering the vocals. The guitars at the end are reminiscent of Pavement’s “Stereo”.
Track 2 “Burden You” starts with a lot of noise and a quick pace, leading in to more of those melancholy– soaked brit-pop style vocals. However, it doesn’t develop into anything special. There’s no big chorus, no obscure bridge, or even cleverly written lyrics in the verse.
Most of the songs on "Conditions" are similar in style and execution. The recording and production is good, however there is that ever developing trend of blandness throughout the record. Perfect as a background album, however the point of an album is to get the artists point across and not to be just background music, surely?
Conditions by Soft Speaer is worth a listen, but don’t expect to hear anything amazing or to be blown away.
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Soft Speaker - Conditions (EP)
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