#269 The Soft Pack - The Soft Pack

This got some buzz on someonernothers 2010 list.

The first track is deceptive, and kind of works against the first-time listener's experience. It's a catch, jaunty, 90's tumbler, tripping over its own rolling energy; 'Hey! This is gonna be fun!' you think.

The rest of the album though is repetitive, catchy songs of frustration. The band finds some riff they like, some hook, some beat, and pulse it over and over and over again, using repetition as a device. Its an ur verse/chorus/verse structure, with little difference between the two, little movement within them, and almost no tempo changes to be found. It reiterates where you expect it to swerve, which is actually kind of surprising in its own way. Its a masterpiece of inventiveness in structure by steadfastly subverting adventurousness in structure.

At first its a little annoying, the grinding repetition, the relentlessness. But on an album that combines Gang of Four's seething frustration with helplessness and hopelessness, its kind of perfect. It's an album of inertia, each riff churning, bursting, but with nowhere to go, every measure promising a counter-melody that's never going to come. By the end, it actually kind of works. Maybe its just bad songwriting, and I'm giving it too much credit, but I think its actually kind of brilliant.

Part of the appeal, though, is that there's more here than that gesture. It's more post-punk than post-rock, it's still invested in the energy, in the music. The hooks, repeated and frustrating as they are, are actually pretty good, with catchy basslines and well-honed tetanus riffs around every corner. The bassline on closer Parasites in particular is a dangerous earwig that will haunt your post-listen thoughts. Even the shouty sentiments are well-chosen and well delivered. I enjoy it a fair amount, admire it a bit more than I enjoy it, and generally had a groove-laden, mind-changing listen. Around here, that's at least good for 4/5