Genre: New Psychedelic/Shoegaze

General Review: Partially recorded in a Portland cement factory, Soft Tags creates an eerie yet dreamy sound that oscillates between the fundamentals of pop hooks and the captivating experimentation of neo-psychedelia. Expect to hear acoustic guitars strumming in the foreground of dissonance, the aggressive beckoning of pronounced drumming, the tranquil and, at times jarring retreat of quirky percussion, driving rifts of low-fi electric guitar, the commanding dimension of the Hammond Organ, the naturalizing integration of cello, violin and bass, and the crackling distortions of fuzzy atmosphere (cultivated through the use of vintage tube amps and an electrophone theremin). Richard Shirk’s voice sounds like a mixture between Isaac Brock, Lou Reed, Spencer Krug and Ian Curtis. Vocal arrangements often jump between a softer wash of reverb and the echoey articulation of multiple chants. Overall, this record sounds like the thrilling side of shadowy darkness with idyllic patches of sunlight. I love the whole album but try playing: 1, 8, 4, 16, 7, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 5

Track Descriptions (No FCCs):
1. Overhead, The Weathership: Cello introduces, dies out, fast tempo drums join, driving guitar rift
2. The Pine Barrens: Rhythmic drumming creates tempo, commanding vocals, aggressive ending with chants
3. Elms: garage rockish, layers of psychedelic organs
4.Gone: Acoustic psych-folk vibe song, male vox is joined by a female, a lavish dreamy ballad with strings
5. 814: Acoustic guitar strumming, spacey expression
6. Locksmith Widower: monotony encouraged by sound of palindrome or bells, organ
7. Winchester Mansion: softer vox, great folk sound, sparse percussion, organ creates atmosphere.
8. Mathematical Monster: Starts with drumming, sweet organ rift, builds into awesome rock that ceases midway through and returns with catchy harmonies.
9. Birds: Mostly instrumental, starts with the chime of a clock, then joins a prominent organ, bells, drum machine, percussion goes over, talking-voices
10. 30th Century Man: A sweet Scott Walker Cover, starts with strings, dips into a garage shoegaze sound with pockets of psychedelia (reminds me of Bowie and a Kinks a little)
11. Secret Shoppers Pt 2: Charming little folk-rock diddy, with undertones of strings and bells
12. Cargo: More of that indie-rock vibe, recognizable guitar rift, lots of cello at the end
13. Architect Song: Chants at beginning, an energetic rock song 14. Deathstar is Ascendant: starts with fast-paced drums, a catchy guitar rift joins and is carried through with the organ, drums take over ending, vox turns into a repeated foreign language voice over.
15. Unnatural Weather: Starts with tight higher register acoustic strumming, drops out when vox joins, electric guitar drives song until picked up by an amazing cello rift at the end
16. Brazil: a super good indie-rock/fuzzy garage pop song
17. The Cold War: Rapid finger picking, dreamy, echoey drums, vox is more pronounced, very melancholic, sound effects of rain, with 1:47 left, sound effects of wind join, music ceases distant talking carries over into the next track
18. Elephants (Instrumental): massive instrumental of dissonant beats, clanking, ominous cello, lots of distortion.