It was around ten years ago now that the Soft Riot wheels started turning into motion. And with that it feels good to announce the release of a new compilation album, Second Lives, out 28 June 2021 on Possession Records! It’s a limited release out in digital, Digipak CD, Cassette and streaming formats and contains 8 tracks. Rather than being a proper and full new album, this release is a mixture of a number of things. There’s completely new versions of a few old songs, including “Another Drone In Your Head (Second Version)” (original from the 2012 EP of the same name), “Write Yourself Into The Void (Second Version)” (original from Fiction Prediction, 2013) and “Cinema Eyes (Version IV)”, the later also from Fiction Prediction but also with this version released on the Forbidden Figures Vol. 1 compilation released last year as a benefit to Münster-based, Japanese musician and friend Nao Katafuchi.
It also contains a obscure version of a track from You Never Know What Might Come Next (2015) called “Your Back To The Stone (March Version).” This version was originally composed a number of years ago on request of another record label that never came to fruition.
There’s also new versions of two cover songs by Canadian artists that were originally put out on releases now out-of-print: “Lovers In A Dangerous Time” being the first, by songwriter Bruce Cockburn from his 1984 album Stealing Fire as well as an interpretation of “We Are The Chopped (Second Version)” originally done by the legendary (and local to where I grew up) punk band Nomeansno from their debut album Mama (1982).
And rounding it there’s two outtakes, the first being “Fool For A Day” from the When Push Comes To Shove (2019) writing sessions and “Long And Tangled Thoughts” from the Chin Up (2020) writing session.
You can preview the tracks from the Possession online store below. Digital releases and physical ships from 28 June 2021.
For those looking for new tracks, there is indeed a lot of work done for a new album on the way. Like most people it’s been tricky to navigate over this past year or so due to the ongoing pandemic, so a lot of the ideas are there but certain mental “ingredients” are in hiding at the moment to complete a new record. But overall all’s good and things should start to change soon and it’ll get done and out there when the time is right.
In the meantime, some new tracks are popping up here and there — most recently the new track “A Spade Is Played Again” on the first compilation Volume 1 from the new Berlin-based label Dream Baby Dream, birthed from the bar of the same name. And there’s soon to be a few other new tracks on various releases which will be announced quite soon.