The Soft Pack: s/t
Label: Kemado
What a rush! Completely aware that there just ain’t no reinventing left to do for some wheels, the Soft Pack — who you may have known as the Muslims in a past life — turn out a blistering album with ten songs that could each be a single on its own. The two Matts — Lamkin on vox and guitar, McLoughlin on lead axe — are diabolically effective, injecting each song with an air of garage-rock moodiness or indie-rock classicism (which is kind of hard to muster in this trend-manic hyper-indie’d scene). You will seriously struggle to pick a favorite song from this near-perfect batch, but my faves are the Feelies-recalling hard-strumming “More or Less,” the bittersweet “Mexico” and the cool roar of “Pull Out.” Breathlessly simple and simply great — the Soft Pack everybody! (M.L. Thrope)
