Soft—The Soft EP

I've listened to this EP a number of times. I love the music. I love the lyrics. I love the singing, however there is a but, more of that later. Soft have a sound that is very reminiscent of Oasis and also another band who's name escapes me. They have a hard guitar edge, softened with a subdued vocal performance. The 5 song EP opens with the track Higher and the further you go into the EP the stronger it gets. The 5 tracks are :

• Higher
• You Make Me Wanna Die
• Gold
• Droppin'
• All That You're Shown

Musically this is a very strong opening CD, but the only thing that I found disappointing is the production. Whilst the music is excellent, it does tend to drown out the vocal tracks, resulting in some frustration trying to work out what the singer is actually saying. The worst offender here is the opening track, as after that things aren't so bad.

Now maybe this is just me, but when compared directly with Oasis, who have a very similar sound, their vocals are very prominent, where as Soft's are almost lost. Upon further investigation of this, I found that my car CD player was the biggest culprit. My home stereo gave a much better sound, but the understated vocals were still noticeable.

Production aside, this is a very good EP and definitely worth a listen. My favorite track on the EP is You Make Me Wanna Die. To buy an actual CD costs just $6.49, which in this day an age is a bargain, but I would have really liked the option to purchase the songs online, specifically in MP3 format.

Conclusion : If this vocals were more prominent, I would have definitely marked this as an 8, but when all is said and done, this is an excellent opening EP and I will definitely be looking forward to new material.