-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! Brighton, England, provides our Pick this week: Soft Walls! Their album, No Time, is out now via (the mighty & reliable,) Trouble In Mind Records.

From the label's press:
" Dan Reeves is a very busy guy. In addition to running his own label, Faux Discx Records and playing in the band Cold Pumas he also finds time to record songs all by his lonesome under the moniker ‘Soft Walls’. After recording and releasing the eponymous Soft Walls album in 2012, Reeves set to work again, this time with a borrowed 8-track and a vision of composing a suite of thematically interlaced tunes, resulting in his Trouble In Mind debut, "No Time".

“No Time”s ten songs are meditations on the passing of time itself and the pre-conceived notions (both external and internal) of what you can and should be doing with it. “No Time”s lyrics touch on a universal fear held by many young people heading north of their Twenties; what am I doing, and will I have enough time to do it? Reeves spent many hours writing and re-writing the album’s tunes at home and in his rehearsal space in Brighton before hitting “record” and it shows. While his debut was constructed ‘as-it-happened’ and recorded directly into his computer, “No Time”s deliberate songcraft proves just how far he’s come as a tunesmith, seamlessly aligning his pop smarts with avant-leaning psychedelic drones and a propulsive, rhythmic drive. Dreamy guitar ragas like the opening track “Won’t Remember My Name” ebb and flow seamlessly into motorik head-boppers like “Never Come Back Again” and “All The Same”, whilst pop tunes “Guided Through” and “No Time” shimmer enticingly through a foggy haze.

Mixed to perfection with likeminded independents and Hookworms mastermind, MJ in Leeds and mastered by Joe Caithness at Subsequent Mastering, these are songs to get lost in; to discover & re-discover. Don’t worry - there’s plenty of time. The first vinyl edition of “No Time” is pressed on black vinyl, & includes a printed inner sleeve & download code.

RIYL: Loop, Fresh & Onlys, Hookworms, Cave, Dirty Beaches, White Fence.

For my part, the ten tracks offer a refreshing take on all things krautrock-inspired, with a driving rhythm section, pulsing guitars, and vocals just right in the mix. Time well spent. More reviews, if you need, through Metacritic .



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You can listen to the archived stream here; or, hear it this Friday, on The Dead Man's Turn Me On, Dead Man show on Live365, where it's heard every Friday at noon eastern time, as well as Mr. Atavist's Sunrise Ocean Bender show, heard every other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!