Ultimately Soft Will is Smith Westerns’ contemplative love letter to their past, laden as much with affection as it is with melancholy.
With Soft Will, they should gain back some people who like thoughtful, melodically rich indie rock that isn't sleepy or clichéd or boring. This album is none of those things and, thanks to their actual growth as artists, it may be their best yet.
It wholeheartedly succeeds, and it’s pure nostalgia.
‘Soft Will’ marks Smith Westerns moving into another realm of quality and experimentation, and, to put it quite simply, this album is just a complete pleasure to listen to.
One chorus may be enough, but ‘Soft Will’ is studded with so much more.
Soft Will is certainly not as immediately infectious as Smith Westerns’ previous outings, but that does not make it a weaker album. There are still many injections of fun in the wordless gang vocals and theatrical guitar solos.
On Soft Will, the travails of being young pass through a lens that refracts them into something equal parts analytical and wistful.
They're full of uncluttered and focused optimism, and that shows in their freshly exfoliated music - there are pop hooks galore, twinkling astral riffs and effervescent beats.
Smith Westerns aren’t interested in changing up their formula, they’ve merely found a way to utilize it more thoughtfully.
As a closing chapter to the early days of Smith Westerns' careers, Soft Will is an excellent record - there is just a lingering feeling that their unique sense of fun and abandon, is all but over
For all its faults, the heart and maturity at the centre of Soft Will feels more vital and important than their showy genre tourism ever did.
Soft Will won’t enter the annals as album of the decade, but it showcases the tools and talent to make it happen one day.
It’s unlikely that the demise of the younger, brattier version of Smith Westerns will be mourned by anyone who comes into contact with this lovely record.
Even if this sudden maturity results in deeper sounds, it doesn’t always result in deeper songs.
They don’t sound like teenagers anymore on Soft Will. They sound like they’ve been in the world long enough to get broken by it.
Soft Will, like previous Smith Western albums, still brims with hooks but it never quite resolves if it’s still just good-time summer pop, dark-night-of-the-soul rumination or some sort of Summerteeth-esque middle ground.
The tempered songs of Soft Will, however, don’t feel thoughtfully restrained as much as deflated of enthusiasm.
The album’s stubborn insistence on mourning something that it never really grasped in the first place makes more complex what would otherwise be a boring affair.
I fucking loved this! Aesthetically borrowing from 60's and 70's psych, 90's dream, and 00's and 10's indie pop to come together for a spacious, endearing, and modern exploration of nostalgia in its purest and most genuine form.
Very good album, not much to dislike. Tunes are catchy and lyrics are consistently good and interesting, just not near as much fun as Dye It Blonde
I fucking loved this! Aesthetically borrowing from 60's and 70's psych, 90's dream, and 00's and 10's indie pop to come together for a spacious, endearing, and modern exploration of nostalgia in its purest and most genuine form.
Very good album, not much to dislike. Tunes are catchy and lyrics are consistently good and interesting, just not near as much fun as Dye It Blonde
1 | 3am Spiritual 4:23 | |
2 | Idol 4:14 | |
3 | Glossed 3:06 | |
4 | XXIII 4:28 | |
5 | Fool Proof 4:26 | |
6 | White Oath 4:03 | |
7 | Only Natural 3:49 | |
8 | Best Friend 3:48 | |
9 | Cheer Up 2:45 | |
10 | Varsity 4:00 |
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