Authors: Isaac Holman, Jolyon Thomas, Laurence Vincent
Label:
Type: Rock
SOFT PLAY releases venemous new single
'Isaac Is Typing...'
Along with chaotic critically acclaimed new album
'Heavy Jelly'
SOFT PLAY unleash their eagerly anticipated new album ‘HEAVY JELLY’ - their first in six years with its new focus track ‘Isaac Is Typing…’ The duo’s life-affirming comeback has created a wealth of memorable moments in recent months, from the scathing satire of 'Punk's Dead' via the snarling rage of 'Act Violently' to the poignancy of 'Everything and Nothing'. Further accelerating their return with a career defining set at Glastonbury, a standout performance at Download plus a Hyde Park show as guests to their pal Robbie Williams, SOFT PLAY’s new era is a tale of brotherhood, coming back against the odds, and delivering their best album to date.
Driven by a snaking punk-metal riff and a stomping-boot rhythm, ‘Isaac Is Typing…’ unleashes tightly coiled tension into a venomous eruption of full-throated visceral aggro. Yet in keeping with SOFT PLAY’s increasingly self-deprecating humour, its snarling intensity is inspired by a routine moment of day-to-day frustration that the duo share.
Laurie Vincent says, “In a WhatsApp group for SOFT PLAY HQ, we’ll have all signed something off and then you’ll just see ‘Isaac is typing…’ and then it disappears again. And then that happens several times. I sent him this message saying, ‘I don’t want this to land wrong but ‘Isaac Is Typing…’ would be a sick title for a song.”
Isaac Holman adds, “The song’s not really trying to say anything more than what it is, and that it’s annoying for me and everybody else. I’ve got OCD quite badly and I’m such a perfectionist because of it. I’m a massive, anxious overthinker and I get really obsessed with stuff.”
Beyond the singles, ‘HEAVY JELLY’ wastes no time in commanding your attention with ‘All Things’ - what other album opens with a choir and then the sneering opening lyric, “I’m the nicest dickhead you’ve ever met”? And they keep that full-throttle unpredictability throughout with nu-metal attacks, slamming hardcore and swaggering, heavyweight grooves underpinning tales full of observational wit and light-hearted self-reflection. But the closing ‘Everything And Nothing’ reveals that there’s heart beyond their playfulness, a paean of mourning and loss in which its simple, evocative declaration “I feel love” perfectly summarises the ‘HEAVY JELLY’ experience.
As Laurie explains, the key to SOFT PLAY unlocking all of that was relatively simple: “We’re like brothers in the sense that you can’t always be best mates with your brother, but now we’ve got it back. We needed to learn how to be friends again, and then all the silliness comes out of that - which is what was fun about our band in the first place.”
SOFT PLAY celebrate the release of ‘HEAVY JELLY’ with a record store tour ahead of further festival dates throughout the summer. They then hit the road for a UK headline tour in October, which closes with a special Halloween show at the O2 Academy Brixton.
Eileen Carpio
'Isaac Is Typing...'
Along with chaotic critically acclaimed new album
'Heavy Jelly'
SOFT PLAY unleash their eagerly anticipated new album ‘HEAVY JELLY’ - their first in six years with its new focus track ‘Isaac Is Typing…’ The duo’s life-affirming comeback has created a wealth of memorable moments in recent months, from the scathing satire of 'Punk's Dead' via the snarling rage of 'Act Violently' to the poignancy of 'Everything and Nothing'. Further accelerating their return with a career defining set at Glastonbury, a standout performance at Download plus a Hyde Park show as guests to their pal Robbie Williams, SOFT PLAY’s new era is a tale of brotherhood, coming back against the odds, and delivering their best album to date.
Driven by a snaking punk-metal riff and a stomping-boot rhythm, ‘Isaac Is Typing…’ unleashes tightly coiled tension into a venomous eruption of full-throated visceral aggro. Yet in keeping with SOFT PLAY’s increasingly self-deprecating humour, its snarling intensity is inspired by a routine moment of day-to-day frustration that the duo share.
Laurie Vincent says, “In a WhatsApp group for SOFT PLAY HQ, we’ll have all signed something off and then you’ll just see ‘Isaac is typing…’ and then it disappears again. And then that happens several times. I sent him this message saying, ‘I don’t want this to land wrong but ‘Isaac Is Typing…’ would be a sick title for a song.”
Isaac Holman adds, “The song’s not really trying to say anything more than what it is, and that it’s annoying for me and everybody else. I’ve got OCD quite badly and I’m such a perfectionist because of it. I’m a massive, anxious overthinker and I get really obsessed with stuff.”
Beyond the singles, ‘HEAVY JELLY’ wastes no time in commanding your attention with ‘All Things’ - what other album opens with a choir and then the sneering opening lyric, “I’m the nicest dickhead you’ve ever met”? And they keep that full-throttle unpredictability throughout with nu-metal attacks, slamming hardcore and swaggering, heavyweight grooves underpinning tales full of observational wit and light-hearted self-reflection. But the closing ‘Everything And Nothing’ reveals that there’s heart beyond their playfulness, a paean of mourning and loss in which its simple, evocative declaration “I feel love” perfectly summarises the ‘HEAVY JELLY’ experience.
As Laurie explains, the key to SOFT PLAY unlocking all of that was relatively simple: “We’re like brothers in the sense that you can’t always be best mates with your brother, but now we’ve got it back. We needed to learn how to be friends again, and then all the silliness comes out of that - which is what was fun about our band in the first place.”
SOFT PLAY celebrate the release of ‘HEAVY JELLY’ with a record store tour ahead of further festival dates throughout the summer. They then hit the road for a UK headline tour in October, which closes with a special Halloween show at the O2 Academy Brixton.
Eileen Carpio
Radio
×