The Soft Hills tour Benelux with new LP 'Departure'
31-03-2014The Northwest of the United States: Home of The Soft Hills. For the music fan, the area has always been a wellspring of pure joy. Punk was invented there in the 1960s (The Wailers, The Sonics), Jimi Hendrix was born there, K Records, one of the most influential indie labels of all time, was baptized there, then came Sub Pop, Mudhoney, Nirvana.
On "Departure" (released March 7th on Tapete Records) disposed entirely of the Americana leanings which had characterized the previous albums, allowing European influences to become more apparent. These include Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, Brian Eno or the Factory Sound of the early 80s, which might be due to the fact that Hobba started to write the songs during a several-month stay in Europe. The instrumentarium was supplemented by Mellotron, Moog, Hammond B3 and a Rhodes piano.
"While recording the fourth full-lenght LP, The Soft Hills' Garret Hobba suffered respiratory problems caused by mould in a Seattle bedroom. After that serious health scare, he headed to California to recuperate, and it's that 'Departure' was finished. Unsurprisingly, that event is prevalent in these songs, notably in the lyrics of claustrophobic opener 'Golden Hour' ('Choking while you are living/the pressure's closing in') and the gloomy, minimalistic electro-indie of 'The Fault' and 'White Queen'. But there are glimpses of his recovery too, in the living westcoast psych-folk of 'Blue Night' and the warm whisfull fuzz of 'Belly Of A Whale'. Almost dying must have been terryfing, but Hobba should be overjoyed that this came out of it." - NME.
During their European tour, this month, The Soft Hills will visit the Benelux too:
03-04-2014: Utrecht (NL) @ DBs w/ King Champion Sounds
04-04-2014: Eeklo (BE) @ N9
The day after the release the uploaded a video for 'White Queen':