New Morality Zine/Extinction Burst Records, May 18, 2020
Sweet Soul dives headfirst into the 1990’s.
Sweet Soul sounds like they’ve fully ingested and digested the Angus and Mallrats soundtracks. There’s a real 1990’s sound to them, with a little bit of power pop and a little bit of pop emo settling neatly into the cleanly produced alternative-pop punk thing that they’re working with.
“Noises Drown”, the Sweet Soul single from their upcoming full-length, offers a couple of different vibes. The guitars bring the hooks and the lead guitar snakes throughout much of the song, adding melody, while the drums crash a little like early Alkaline Trio. Each time I listen to this, I get this idea that it would fit well on an Ash record. This is my favorite of the two originals. The second song, “At Odds”, reminds me of Dismemberment Plan just a bit. It plays with rhythm and rolling drums and offers a sort of moody atmospheric collection of verses that twinkle until the chorus blows out with a sort of sugar rush of guitars and effects. It’s decent stuff.
The last song, “Come On”, is a cover of the Chuck Berry song. Or, as the band calls it, a cover of the Rolling Stones cover of the Chuck Berry song. The first couple of times I listened to this, I was unimpressed. There was a nice bounce to it, but it just seemed ho-hum. But the more I listened, the more I came around. The sort of deadpan vocals started seeping in and now it’s pretty cool, maybe even my favorite on certain listens. It just feels sort of out of place next to the other songs.
Noises Drown is nothing earth-moving, but it’s a decent quick release. The production is a little clean for my taste and the songs don’t necessarily feel like they fit next to each other all that well. But it’s still an okay listen for what it is.
You might like this if:
- You miss the 1990’s and find yourself liking well-executed and cleanly produced songs with decent hooks and a slight edge
You might not if:
- If the clean production and style of the more commercial end of the 1990’s alternative music thing is boring for you now (or never landed in the first place), maybe go the other way
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
