Soft Kill - Heresy


Once more into the bandcamp cornucopia of musical fantasy...and I discovered this post-punk marvel.  Hailing from Portland, Oregon according to bandcamp,but from San Luis Obispo, CA according to facebook - their first release, An Open Door, came out in 2011.  This is their third album, but it is a rather short album, less than 30 minutes.  Those thirty minutes, however, are superb.  They said they would be reissuing their catalog this Fall, but I have not seen this to be happening yet.  Keep up with them in facebook.  Firmly planted in the post-punk genre, Soft Kill carries on where bands like Interpol, She Wants Revenge, Glorious Din, and others either gave up or phased out.  Soft Kill manages to sound new, fresh, and important while staying true to their chosen sound.  So many, like Interpol and She Wants Revenge, couldn't grow within the framework of their genre and started pulling from other styles.  I am impressed that this lot seem secure in their sound and aren't jerking around their fans by jumping around stylistically.




I didn't know I liked post-punk, or anything "post" until I kept encountering the term alongside bands I liked.  Most of these bands; Glorious Din, Slovenly, Butthole Surfers, were "post" when I first knew them - they were just a different breed of punk rock, but we didn't think of them as a separate genre.  We painted with a much broader brush back then that was much more inclusive.

Tracklist:
  1. Grandview
  2. Violent Mind
  3. Hit The Floor
  4. Selfish Love
  5. Current
  6. Heresy
Gritty, driving, and spellbinding...Soft Kill haunts the recesses of your imagination and brings forth thoughtful contemplation and possibly the desire to dance head down, swaying to the cadence of their songs.  The vocals are muted and understated leaving you to either dig for them or let them fall into the background and form your own meaning.  The guitars and the drums do the work of whipping energy into the music.  In the old days we would be writhing together in a mass of limbs and sweating profusely moving to the tempo...judging our enjoyment of the evening and the band by the number and size of the bruises we acquired during the show.  I haven't been to one of their shows but I haven't seen that kind of involvement with bands in a long time - everyone is so aloof and unconnected at concerts these days.  I guess it is obvious this band awakens the past for me, but also gives me hope for a brighter future.  A future where people don't just go to shows to hear a band, but to connect with the rest of the audience, to join with them in that moment.  To participate - delving deep within the waves of the canorous sounds breaking through the walls that separate us. 


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