This month sees the release of the debut Soft Maybe record, Domestic Nature, on Anything Bagel. Recorded and mixed by Lukas Phalen at HOYA Recordings in Missoula, and mastered by Mike Ditrio in Olympia, WA, Domestic Nature is a collection of fourteen soft pop gems that weave guitar harmonies and hooks together with jazz-style progressions and the odd splash of clarinet.

After the lazy, sun-drunk stir of opener ‘Takeoff’, ‘Airplane’ introduces Smith’s peppy delivery and idiosyncratic writing, possessing an intimacy and affection in its conversational tone. This is furthered by the small details across the song that bring the airplane trip to life, the Biscoff biscuits and Space Jam streams on the monitors, the Steve Reich headphone zone outs, the pining for pets and pals and loved ones. The result is indicative of the Soft Maybe sound—approachable and fun, with a sense of wit balanced by a comprehensive sincerity that breeds a genuine fondness.

This applies to the entire record, the binding force of what is otherwise an eclectic scrapbook of sounds and styles. The admission of wanting to stay home all day of ‘Lost & Found’ and the morose earnestness of ‘House Sounds’ is separated by the playful interlude of ‘Jazz School’, as though Smith is zipping between headspaces through a cartoon wormhole. Wistfulness is present in heaps (‘Drift’, ‘Okay, Fine, Alright’, ‘Closer’), giving the record a reflective dimension, though the loose-limbed cool that’s present in so many of the tracks feels rooted in the present, a full appreciation of the moment no matter how ordinary or banal.

This might be in the gentle gathering of life in ‘Morning Drone’, the mischievous beat of ‘Try Again’ or the everyday tangle of wonder and regret in the slacker-inspired ‘A Rainy Walk’. Every one of these songs finds its narrator stuck within the mundane world yet working to see beyond the ordinary, not so much to escape reality but rather breathe a new sense of value into its contours. This seems to be Soft Maybe’s mission statement: staring life’s moments in the eye, one by one, no matter of boring or trivial they may seem, then conjuring significance through sheer curiosity and earnestness.

Today we’re delighted to share the full album a little early, so grab your headphones, kick back and drift into Sanders’s easygoing world.

Photo by Emily Johnson, album art by Yeshe Parks

The post Soft Maybe – Domestic Nature appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The variation extends to the moods and themes of the songs too. Other Days is a record about the “ups and downs of daily life as a young adult in the current age of technology,” Cardiello tells The Seed in a Q&A, “dealing with social media, having friends living near and far, being constantly reminded of things happening elsewhere.” The result is a record that allows the joyous and the difficult to exist side by side, the celebratory energy bubbling to the surface no matter what.

After the taut, LVL UP style opener of ‘Afternoon’, ‘Thunderstorm’ arrives with bendy elastic guitar like bright strokes of synaesthesiac colour, before thumping percussion adds an air of magnitude and negative space. It’s a good introduction to the Wrinkles aesthetic, an upbeat and unpredictable combination of manic energy and moments of sweeping grandeur. The chorus is the case-in-point, the Fang Island-esque buoyancy supporting Cardiello as he channels his inner Spencer Krug, nearly-wailing lines about an unexpected and inexplicable connection to a distant land via the internet.

“There was a thunderstorm, I wanted to be part of it,
I went into the basement and banged on the drums,
there was a scene that I found on the internet,
I wanted to be part of it but didn’t know how”

Operating at a slower pace (at least initially), ‘Shores’ is built on a repetitive synth line that sounds like it could soundtrack the seafloor level of some retro platformer. Eventually the track blossoms into something equally anxious and earnest, at times accelerating into helter skelter motion before grinding back to a near-halt. It follows the record’s thematic blueprint, traversing the peaks and troughs of contemporary existence, exploring how sometimes the future can be as uncertain as sand at the bottom of the murkiest waters.

As you can probably tell from those descriptions, Wrinkles are not content to slip into a familiar groove. Every track on the record hums and pulses with its own unique energy, and it’s a testament to the band that the result is such a cohesive whole. Described as a “high energy rocker with frenetic guitar lines and punchy syncopation,” ‘Some Days’ see Cardiello wander into a new vocal landscape, a shouty delivery that the band refer to as “David Byrne-esque,” adding to the kind of twitchy, yelpy rhythm that jolts into expressive drawn-out sections.

‘Total Control’ spits and stomps behind squealing guitar before morphing into something almost anthemic, while closer ‘Black Jeans’ skitters and glows while the lyrics swerve from childhood memories to the comforting melancholy of watching The Lion King, earnestness delivered with disarming humour (“I’m wearing black jeans like my father did, I always thought they were ugly when I was a kid”). It’s one final confirmation that Wrinkles are dedicated to making something that sounds quite unlike anything else around at the moment. But don’t take our word for it, stream the whole thing below ahead of its release:

Photo by Amy Donovan

The post Wrinkles – Other Days appeared first on Various Small Flames.