Soft Bullets are a two-man band, transatlantic in nature. Combining the efforts of the UK’s Christopher Wall and Dan Capaldi from the US, they’re apparently inspired by the live performances of groups such as Justice and Daft Punk, although it’s fair to say they possess their own fairly distinctive identity. The ‘Hyperreality’ EP seems to explore the boundaries between digital and human, as evidenced in both the music and the song titles.
The music is a laid back mix of indie, electronica and trip-hop, created with piano, guitar, keyboards, samples, live drums, beats, with someone who sounds very similar to Thom York on the vocals, both for lead and layers of backing vocals. The EP is perhaps something like how Thom Yorke’s debut album would have sounded if it were more accessible, and primarily written in minor keys.
Out of the range of sounds on offer, I preferred the funkier, more groovy ‘Another Chance’ to the melancholy, piano-driven ‘Broken Circuits’, however this depends entirely on personal taste. They are very good at haunting, atmospheric songs, but a whole album of this may be difficult to listen to without some more positive-sounding tracks to balance out the tone. This being said, adding one or two more really beautiful layers to the existing songs could really turn them into something sublime, something ethereal.
That’s not to say that the EP is amateurish at all. This is very well-orchestrated, well produced music, with no signs of the problems usually plaguing early releases from new bands; they clearly have an established talent, with little requirement to nurture them into something more ‘professional’, and the music on show would suggest they have plenty of ideas and sounds to offer in future releases.
Each track is a very different beast, right from the keyboard introduction to ‘History: a memory’ to the angular guitar on the title track which closes the EP. The final seconds of the song end in a washing electronic sound before stopping abruptly, teasing that there is more to come. It will be interesting to see what they give us next.
Released November 12th on Township Music.
Posted by Joe Purse.
