ALBUM REVIEW – M(h)aol – ”SOMETHING SOFT“
- Janet Harding
- May 14
- 2 min read
Updated: May 16
M(h)aol
Something Soft
Out 16th May
WORDS JANET HARDING
Irish post punk band (now a trio) M(h)aol's latest album, "Something Soft", a follow up to debut album, “Attachment Styles” is a fiery, hard hitting, feminist masterpiece. Band members Constance Keane, Jamie Hyland and Sean Nolan, are joined by Sarah Dean on bass for the entire album and it was recorded by Jamie Hyland.
From the opening track “Pursuits” to its closing track, “Coda”, this sound draws me into a bewildering bombardment of musical meditation. Very cathartic, this does feel transcendental and seemingly lifts me to another level, certainly musically anyway. Themes are hard hitting, feminist themes from “Misogyny in a Green Room”, “Tense Walks Home”, to a heartfelt list of things missed during grieving for a lost dog (“I miss my dog”).
Subjects are covered with a seething wit, anger, sarcasm, angst, longing and an almost ironic acceptance in a vocal that is narrative, almost mantra like and spoken. Musically there’s a feel of contradiction for me throughout this album… it works! It’s furious yet calm, steady yet rapid, soft and even yet hard hitting and explosive; it’s this wonderful juxtaposition that cements the sound.
Beats and rhythm are the driving force, the soul of this album: hypnotic, mesmeric, like a meditation of sorts, with its guiding vocal floating atop distortion, feedback and fuzz, jagged crunching guitar lines with muddy atmospheric bass lines. Complex and intricate, each song is a musical masterpiece, layered, textured and full of atmosphere and intrigue, often starting off quite low key, soft, methodical, then gaining momentum like a tide turning, evolving into a crashing tidal wave of crescendo, then just like that- ended, finished, gone-but with impact.
A real big bang sound. Very immersive, this actually feels therapeutic somehow. Like a sound bath but at the same time release, like hammering fists into a punch bag and feeling lighter emotionally afterwards. A stand out album which upon listening to does seem to promote an inspired and energised feeling.
9/10
Something Soft
Out 16th May 2025 via Merge Records
Tracklisting
01. Pursuit
02. I Miss My Dog
03. You Are Temporary, But the Internet Is Forever
04. DM:AM
05. E8/N16
06. Vin Disel
07. Clementine
08. Snare
09. IBS
10. 1800-Call-Me-Back
11. Coda
FOLLOW M(h)aol
Commentaires