Description:	Limited 12" import EP on Kemado with MP3 download code! Hand No'd of 500!
	Format:	12" (vinyl)
	Genre(s):	Indie Rock
	Label:	Kemado
	Price:	£13.29
	Availability:	Sold out / currently unavailable. Sorry!

4
...according to our Business Lady on 07 January 2010.

I'm starting to understand why The Muslims changed their name to The Soft Pack...these guys are gonna be ebay gold one day and i don't think a band called Muslims would see much action on the hit parade. While the original 7" version of 'Answer to yourself' (which sounds totally like Monaco's 'What do you want from me') included a Cure cover, here on the 12" version you get 'Answer to yourself' plus three new tunes; 'C'mon' (probably the most consistent tune here that totally reminds me of Paul Westerburg's song writing style), 'Eat Gold' (a mutant sebadoh-esque rock out that's well scruffy) and 'Faithman' that sounds like a Jonathan Richman tune with it's catchy-ass jangle of a riff and it's infectious little chorus. A perfect mix of pop sensibilities and scruffy indie rock cool, The Soft Pack are one of those rare hipster bands that are actually pretty good, not the most original band but they do what they do well. Super limited to 500 copies, you'll be wanting to snap one of these up before the cool kids swoop in for the kill.

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What their label says...

Like all great stories, it begins with two friends called Matt and Matty. Matty McLoughlin played guitar obsessively, Matt Lamkin also played guitar but fancied himself as a singer/wordsmith too. Both Matt and Matty were frustrated music nuts who decided that they’d had enough of all the bands in their hometown of sunny San Diego dressing and sounding like chilly English new wave bands from the 1960s/70s/80s. “We wanted to start a band that played simple, catchy, smart rock songs,” says Matt. “There weren’t many bands in San Diego doing that at the time. So we did.”

 
Armed with conviction and a fraternal dedication, the band returned to their adopted home of Los Angeles in the summer of 2009 to write songs for their debut album. Working long days, they fashioned songs as a quartet. “Four equal parts making four equal contributions,” say Matt. They then decamped to New York to work with Eli Janney, once of 90s alternative behemoths Girls Against Boys but latterly an in-demand producer and mixer, at Saltland Studios.


Highlights include the perfect one-two punch of the first two singles, “Answer To Yourself” and the rallying call, “C’mon,” The Vaselines-inspired “Down On Loving” (“written in a day,” says Matty, proudly), live favorite “Parasites,” and a slew of songs written towards the end of the summer. Songs like “Tides Of Time,” “Flammable” and the hypnotic sway of Mexico, the only song on the album where the pace drops from a sprint. This was the first song the band had ever written from a jam, as well as the first directly paying its respects to The King. “Matt was listening to Elvis’ Blue Hawaii album when we wrote this,” recalls Brian. “That’s where that laid-back croon comes from.” But perhaps the most arresting song onboard The Soft Pack arrives when “Pull Out” loads. This is the song that young boys in bedrooms will play on repeat when dreaming of forming their own perfect punk-rock-garage-rock band. They wrote it while playing each other’s instruments (Matty on bass, Brian on guitar, Dave on drums). When Matt walked into the rehearsal space and heard the glorious noise his colleagues were making in a lop-sided fashion he started ad-libbing lyrics on top and hey presto! A pearl was crafted.

Tracklisting:

C'mon    
Eat Gold    
Answer To Yourself    
Faithman