/)
The musical medium of electronic keyboard pop is filled to the brim – and often overflowing – with two timing hacks, plastic impersonators, and god awful sounds from true pretenders, so even the task of wading through this week’s ‘hits’ is daunting, depressing, and more often than not dreadful. Thankfully out of this pile of putrid steaming stew, the occasional act shines, justifying their existence by releasing quality fare that won’t make the bile rise in your throat. Case in point: Soft Metals. They are a duo in music, life, and love, hailing originally from Portland, Oregon, and now calling the City of Angels home.
Ian Hicks and Patricia Hall’s journey together began five years ago, the two self described multi-disciplinary artists bonding over a shared interest in and appreciation of 1970s and 80s synthesizer and electronic music, which in turn became the focal point of their own unique audio creations. The couple share all song writing and music making duties, building their tracks from heady jam sessions of improvised electric origins, and as heard in their dense songs, a wide variety of influences stoke their fires, ranging from avant garde minimalism to film soundtracks, to early industrial music to house and techno, krautrock, psychedelic rock, and shoegaze.
The result is music that is equally at home on the dance floor as it is on a pair of living room headphones, as is evidenced on the second full-length, the smashing Lenses (their 2010 EP The Cold World Melts and self-titled debut album from the following year aren’t too shabby either). Hall’s smoky vocals lead us on a galloping lunar voyage, a workout for both the body and the brain, which these days is a rarity.
Soft Metals | Divan orange, 4234 Blvd. St. Laurent
w/ Brusque Twins
Saturday August 17th
Facebook
