Rating: ****
The Soft Underground are throwbacks.
Hailing from NYC, from the looks of their bio, they owe a lot more to grunge-pioneers like The Screaming Trees than they do The Strokes.
Grunge-sounding bands in 2018 can be kind of a mixed bag. Personally, I love that sound, but the tastebuds for rock music has changed since 1991. It seems that the consumer wants faster, louder, and more screamier (<---totes not a word).
They have a new album dropping in late July (July 27 to be exact) and I was the lucky recipient of their single "Ghosts" in my inbox this week. Will it revive a dead genre? Who knows? I'm curious to find out.
Regardless of your (or mine for that matter) preconceived notions of what Soft Underground is going to sound like, I think it's better for all of us to just fucking listen to it already.
Let's do that.
Listen to "Ghosts" on Soundcloud here:
First things first, the hook is tight af. Musically I think they might owe more to Franz Ferdinand than Soundgarden. The guitars are great and the vocals fit perfectly. It sounds dreamy. They sound like Jellyfish got booked for CBGB's and wanted to harden it up a little. The melody line draws you in and the chorus keeps you there. It's like a mix of later-era Kyuss and early-era Queens of the Stone Age and coming from me that's the highest compliment. This single serves as a perfect teaser for the new album "Morning World" being released later this month.
Very impressive first single coming from Soft Underground. If you're a fan of dream-stoner rock that doesn't sound dated in the least, you're gonna dig this single and probably be pretty stoked for the album to come out. If you're not a fan of that kind of music, you have bigger problems. Get your life together homey.