Soft Crisis Releases EP

Soft Crisis is an indie rock band from St. Louis, MO composed of Reshad Staitieh, John Hardecke, Garth Jenkins and Erik Seaver. The members of this band have been touring for decades with previous projects and have shared the stage with bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Bad Brains, Cave-In, At the Drive In, and Against Me to name a few. Suffice it to say the band has a good amount of experience and it shows.

The band recently released I’ll Stop Now which they call an EP but contains eight songs. It’s more or less an album. Their music feels heavily steeped in ’90s indie rock which I happen to love. I grew up on bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Pavement and it was obvious to me that they were influenced by them. In fact the lead singer vocals have a fairly striking resemblance to Stephen Malkmus. I can already visualize the ears of fans of Pavement perking up.

The first song is entitled “Shelter” and is indicative of what else you can expect from the remaining songs. It’s poppy, accessible and very well delivered. These are the sounds of veteran musicians playing live to my ears. I was impressed by the playing styles of the members and their general push and pull. It’s a great opener and got me excited to hear more.

“Erode” is a killer song that felt like one of the highlights. The grooves are fun and the lyrics avoid cliches. There are some great lines but my favorite was “It’s not right how you spoke it in code /When you knew you knew I was out in the road / Running around, searching by sound/  Looking for truth in this puddle I found.”

BANDCAMP: https://softcrisis.bandcamp.com/album/ill-stop-now

“Fractions” continues to showcase accessible songs that have ’90s indie rock nostalgia. The guitar work complements the vocals and the rhythm section is able to keep things tight and in the pocket.

I think “Become” was a highlight mainly because of the hook. It’s absolutely infectious and stuck with me the first time I heard it. This is the type of song that you might have on repeat.

 “Bind” rocks out pretty hard in its own way while “Discard” is a dynamic song that contains more infectious melodies and dynamic shifts. There’s subtle philosophical insights on “Convinced” that has some slight shoegaze vibes in the spirit of My Bloody Valentine, Ride and Slowdive. They close strongly with “Punch” which is another one in the win column according to my ears.

Suffice it to say if you enjoy ’90s indie rock in the spirit of bands like Yo La Tengo, Pavement and others you will love this. It’s nostalgic for those who grew up on this sort of music and was happy to hear band’s like this who are keeping the flame alive. On top of that the band has a cohesive sound and thought the EP plays very well from beginning to end. In my opinion, there’s a whole lot to appreciate here. Take a listen.

Zachary Rush