Soft Bullets - Nice N Sleazy's, Glasgow - 13th November 2012 (Live Review)
Monday, 19 November 2012
Written by Luke Bailey
9pm. Last Tuesday. I was sat in the bottom of Nice ‘N’ Sleazy’s, steam slowly rising off me (cheers again to the driver who splashed us thinking the rain wasn’t quite enough to get us soaked), holding a mystery pint (support band 'Toi' rocked out too gosh darn hard to order the correct drink to) but feeling surprisingly cheerful. This was mainly due to the excellent band Soft Bullets. Coming courtesy of Chris Wall (keys and lead vocals) and Dan Capaldi (drums and backing) their set filled the room with rich piano sounds, glitch pop drums and chilling singing worthy of Thom Yorke or Matt Bellamy. Soft Bullets describe themselves as a "transatlantic musical venture" and though this would normally set alarm bells ringing they manage to avoid the art school, 'we all play synth' vibe instead coming off a lot more like two guys who really enjoy making music together.
And it works, though what 'it' sounds like for Soft Bullets is more of a conundrum. I guess you've got to start by saying, especially live, its a BIG sound for two guys, well and some witchcraft with triggers, pedals and computers. If I was thinking of popular two person bands in the past ten years then The White Stripes and The Black Keys would be right at the top, stripped down bands but with powerful guitar making a punchy noise. Not so much for Soft Bullets. Instead the keyboard gets used as the main weapon of choice, to layer and build up with fluid drums and percussion, big cymbals to fill and more subdued beats when needed, meaning that the Bullets peak and trough perfectly. This they did in perfect sync all night, minus a technical blip with the witchcraft at the start.
Then I thought I could explain the Soft Bullet sound better by naming artists who they do sound like; you can pick out Alt J, Blake, Blur (more Universal than Song 2), Hot Chip, Kubb, Radiohead and Regina Spektor type noises, though not all in the same song. Still this doesn't quite do the band justice (they don't sound unlike Justice either) the sound they've got is very much their own, with a sprinkling of eclectic influences. This goes for the album art, website style and videos too, it all seems haunting, grimy and post apocalyptic and unique and all this I reckon is reflected best in their song 'Broken Circuits'.
So the best I can do really is just to say that these guys make fantastic music, which is completely their own. I don't want to be much more committal but I guess I could be pegged to saying it fits into the indie-electro-pop-psycadellic-prog rock-alternative type category. Maybe. Not much help? I don't think its funk... Probably.
If you want to find out what Soft Bullets do sound like then they would appreciate folks checking out their shiny new music videos on their website and if you get the chance then do go see them live. The only disappointing thing about the gig was that the room was less full than they deserved. Same goes for the first band of the night, Toi, the legend goes they were teleported to our time magically from decades ago to rock out. They held their own as a band who eat rock and roll for breakfast to fuel their awesomely overblown guitar rock ballads. So after you've scouted out Soft Bullets you can give them a Google, or...
You can find Soft Bullet's website here. Head here for further information on The Toi.
And the pint turned out to be Guinness, sorry for leaving you in suspense so long.
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