The Softies
K Records
The Softies got started in 1994
when Rose Melberg, formerly of
the celebrated twee outfit Tiger Trap as well as Go Sailor,
and Pretty Face alumna Jen
Sbragia got together and started
playing together. After only a handful
of practices they realized how well
their voices and sensibilities
complemented one another, borrowed the
name of a little-known late '70s British
New Wave outfit, and started touring.
You might never have imagined pop music
could be this sweet and soft without
being saccharine and false, but soft and
genuine is what The Softies are
all about. Their two tender voices and
harmonious guitars tumble one after the
other in a quiet waterfall that mixes up
autumn's melancholy and spring's
promise. Their deceptively simple lyrics
are full of subtle, intricate readings
of the subtexts of relationships, of the
details you overlook at the time but
which mean everything in retrospect.
"The Best Days" is a gorgeous,
reflective almost-love song from the
Softies' second album Winter
Pageant, the follow-up to their
equally brilliant debut, It's
Love, both on K Records. From
their 1996 self-titled
Slumberland EP, "Snow Like This"
and "Postal Blue" are, like so many of
The Softies' songs, beautiful
bittersweet nursery rhymes for grown-ups.
After three and a half years of silence,
The Softies finally returned in
2000 with a new release, Holiday in Rhode
Island, on K, which includes
"Sleep Away Your Troubles." The song and the
album are vintage Softies -- nothing
but two chiming, jangly guitars and a
pair of bracing, crystal clear voices --but
Rose and Jen sound a
little older, a little wiser, and maybe
a little sadder.
Jesse Ashlock
last updated:
08/31/01
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