Resonating with references from all corners of the synthpop’s origins, Soft Riot’s latest release nonetheless manages to retain its own individual voice, melding and reinterpreting its antecedents with a personal twist and an impressive demonstration of synth-craft and programming. Following on from 2018’s The Outsider in the Mirrors, these eight tracks represent a change in themes and an evolution in production and sound.
The forthcoming single and album opener “Taking The Edge Off” sets out the Soft Riot manifesto, a propulsive future-synth tale of forging ever-forwards in an increasingly noisy world. “It’s No Laughing Matter” is a hedonistic yet propulsive dance-floor slammer — shades of minimal synth and metallic Belgian new beat condense in side one closer “Fate’s Got A Bone To Pick With You” and the dizzying italo-matic muscle workout “Don’t Get Yourself Bent Out Of Shape” is the ultimate self-help smack down.
This revision in JJD’s approach also impacts on the thematics of his writing. As JJD says himself “I feel real life over this decade has gotten a bit stranger than fiction” — speculative preoccupations of isolation and paranoia have taken on a more personal dimension in his lyrics. There’s tales of alien visitors who fall to the trappings and joys of humanity while on a mission (“By The Skin Of Your Teeth”) to topics less cosmic and more close to home, such as the uplifting emotions one feels within a gathering of friends with the third track, “The Lost Weekend”.
The album is available in a number of packages:
- 12″ LP (plus free sticker)
- Digipak CD (plus free sticker)
- 12″ LP + “Ghost Marble” T-Shirt
- Digipak CD + “Ghost Marble” T-Shirt
- “Voidamol Voyager” LP Pack (12″ LP, “Ghost Marble” T-Shirt, Voidamol Travel Tin Pack, Sticker + Square Badge)
- “Voidamol Voyager” CD Pack (Digipak CD, “Ghost Marble” T-Shirt, Voidamol Travel Tin Pack, Sticker + Square Badge)
Read more about this release here.
This album is available through the Possession Records store and a growing list of distributors worldwide. Check the Possession Records info page for more details.