In the last couple of years some great bands have sprouted up seemingly from a love for the jangly guitars, driving beats, and clever songwriting of classic English indie rock from the 80s. Canada spawned the Dears, England sired Bloc Party, and now the US has given juicy birth to Soft Complex. Soft Complex currently hails from D.C. and claims members from atmospheric psychedelic group Phaser and the more aggressive rock outfit Burning Airlines, but knowing this may provide little introduction to what this quintet sounds like.
Listen to Barcelona.
Don’t you love it? Oh, you’re still listening to it? But doesn’t it start off cool? That’s Chris Connelly on guitar, not Johnny Marr, and Shane German provides the vocals, but he’s got that smooth, downer voice like Bernard Sumner’s yet acerbic like Morrissey’s and studded with those moody sips of air favored by Jarvis Cocker. Plus this is a danceable song. It’s best listened to loud, preferably in a place where you can sing at the top of your lungs and bang on things.
Now listen to Sad Note.
Some of the guitar reminds me of the Go-Betweens, but in this track, Shane reminds me more of Jeff Heiskell from the Judybats. New Order, The Smiths, and the Go-Betweens have enjoyed a fair amount of success, but the Judybats didn’t get to enjoy enough. I sincerely hope Soft Complex becomes the next big thing, or at the very least manages to release a full album. So far they’ve only released an 8-track EP, five of the tracks are remixes (boring), but those three original tracks are really good. I’ve put them on a 3-song repeating shuffle quite a few times each day since I got the EP.
If you’re interested in hearing that third song or in listening to the remixes, you can purchase the EP from Silverthree Sound Recordings. Or if you live in the D.C. area, go watch these guys play and ask them about a full album.
I like their album cover but they sound like a Boy George cover band. Blech.