Pressing Concerns: The Softies, Spring Silver, The Medium, Closebye

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It’s the Thursday Pressing Concerns, which means that it’s time to take a look at some albums that are coming out tomorrow (Friday, August 23rd). This upcoming release day is one of the biggest in recent memory (at least, in terms of music I want to write about), so you’ll be hearing about more albums coming out tomorrow next week on the blog as well. For now though, we’re starting with excellent new albums from The Softies, Spring Silver, The Medium, and Closebye. If you missed either Monday’s post (featuring BBsitters Club, Flowerbomb, Pretty Bitter, Lindsay Reamer, and Obscuress) or Tuesday’s (featuring Junebug, Smug Brothers, Captain Howdy & The Sunset Serenaders, and Chandelier), be sure to check those out, too.

If you’re looking for more new music, you can visit the site directory to see what else we’ve written about lately. If you’d like to support Rosy Overdrive, you can share this (or another) post, or donate here.

The Softies – The Bed I Made

Release date: August 23rd
Record label: Father/Daughter/Lost Sound Tapes
Genre: Twee, indie pop, indie folk
Formats: Vinyl, CD, cassette, digital
Pull Track: California Highway 99

They may not be playing arenas, but The Softies are about as towering of a name as there can be in the worlds of American indie pop and twee music. Chances are, if one is familiar with this kind of music at all, they know multiple bands featuring the group’s two members, Rose Melberg and Jen Sbragia. Melberg in particular has played in over a dozen bands over the years–for as long as I can remember, I’ve considered Tiger Trap’s 1993 self-titled album as my favorite “twee” album of all-time, not to mention her work with Go Sailor, Imaginary Pants, PUPS, and so on–but Sbragia’s All Girl Summer Fun Band shouldn’t be forgotten, either. For both of them, though, The Softies have been their most enduring group–they put out three full-lengths from 1995 to 2000, and though their activity decreased after that, they still played the occasional show, stayed in touch, and formally began putting together what would become The Bed I Made in 2022. Now based in Vancouver and Portland, respectively, Melberg and Sbragia met in the middle at The Unknown, Nicholas Wilbur of New Issue’s Anacortes recording studio (Wilbur co-produced the record with Melberg), and picked up as if it hadn’t been over two decades since their last album together.

The Bed I Made is a reminder of why The Softies specifically have endured, even as their music is deliberately less immediate than most of Melberg and Sbragia’s other projects. When the duo sing together and play the guitars together, they don’t need any additional accompaniment–these songs don’t seek the spotlight, but neither do they shrink from the light shone upon them. And The Bed I Made is a heavy album–there are twenty years of emotion in these fourteen songs, and there’s nowhere on the album for Melberg and Sbragia to hide that side of their writing even if they wanted to do so. When the duo reach a particularly resonant moment in one of their songs– “Anywhere can become just somewhere / And anyone can become just someone,” in “Just Someone”, “I wake up early sometimes, tiptoe through the hall / Think about the people I can no longer call,” in “Dial Tone”, “It was you, then it wasn’t / I thought this would get easier, but it hasn’t,” in “23rd Birthday”–the words just hang there, Melberg and Sbragia taking no measures to shield themselves from their impact. As always, “pop music” supports The Softies through these moments–any initial thoughts of indie pop playing a peripheral role on The Bed I Made is just a reflection of how the duo naturally use it. From the immortal car-as-escape song “California Highway 99” to the comforting zen of “When I Started Loving You” to the rueful grin of “Sigh Sigh Sigh”, every listen to the record reveals a new Softies classic to me. And then there’s “Headphones”, which distills The Softies down to their essence in sixty seconds: “Plug your headphones straight into my heart / Listen / Listen / I love you”. Transcribing those words out doesn’t capture what it’s like to hear that song, but at the same time, that’s really all there is to it. (Bandcamp link)

Spring Silver – Don’t You Think It’s Strange?

Release date: August 23rd
Record label: Self-released
Genre: Fuzz rock, experimental rock, noise pop, art punk
Formats: Digital
Pull Track: Another Perfect Day, Another Perfect Night

Maryland’s Spring Silver came across my radar in early 2022 thanks to I Could Get Used to This, their intriguing and adventurous sophomore album. Although Spring Silver is the solo project of South Dakota/D.C.-suburb-originating artist K Nkanza, they pulled together a bunch of contributors for that album, including likeminded Maryland-originating musician Sam Goblin of Mister Goblin. The Spring Silver-Mister Goblin association (Nkanza also remixed a recently-reissued version of Bad Brother, an album from Goblin’s old band, Two Inch Astronaut) makes a lot of sense, as they both make music that combines tough-edged D.C.-area post-hardcore/art rock with shined-up power pop, although Nkanza’s version of it seemed more keen to embrace experimental electronics and synths as well. With that in mind, I found myself quite surprised by what Nkanza has turned in with Don’t You Think It’s Strange?, the third Spring Silver LP. Even though it was recorded entirely by Nkanza themself, these eight songs veer away from synthpop and actually sound like the most “rock-band-focused” version of Spring Silver yet. Still recognizably themself, Nkanza takes on the difficult task of making lengthy (five-to-seven-minute), rumbling, but still pop-focused rock songs on Don’t You Think It’s Strange?–approaching all this from a unique vantage point, it’s not surprising that the latest Spring Silver album is a singular listen, but it’s equally impressive how accessible it is in spite of all this.

Don’t You Think It’s Strange? kicks off with “Another Perfect Day, Another Perfect Night”, a wall-of-sound alt-rock tune in its first configuration that then becomes an all-in power pop anthem, rides the wave for a couple of minutes, and then ditches into something stranger as it comes to a close. This is a theme from Nkanza throughout the album–even within the confines of rock music, they’re always looking for new corners. The D.C. turn-of-the-century dance punk of “The Well Mother” and the more light-on-its-feet bounce of “It’s Imperative” are a few more shades in the first half of Don’t You Think It’s Strange?, while the electronic touches that show up in the eight-minute “Gold Star” are the clearest mark of Spring Silver’s previous work (although they eventually give way to the guitar-led prog-punk bulk of the song). With seven proper songs and an interlude, there’s not really anywhere to hide filler on Don’t You Think It’s Strange?–mid-record tracks “The Utility Models” and “She Transports Me” add lumbering, heavier alt-rock into the mix, but just when it seems like Spring Silver is going to burn out in this post-grunge wasteland, “She Transports Me, Continued” returns the electronics to the fray, and “How Quaint” ends the album with a calamitous, industrial-bubblegum pop anthem that reminds me a bit of the art pop of the last Spring Silver record, but with the grandiosity of Don’t You Think It’s Strange? in tow as well. It’s a good sign for Nkanza that they’ve already covered so much ground while hammering out a distinct style this early in their musical career. (Bandcamp link)

The Medium – City Life

Release date: August 23rd
Record label: Earth Libraries
Genre: Folk rock, 60s pop, psych pop, alt-country, power pop
Formats: Vinyl, CD, digital
Pull Track: Sellout City

Nashville pop rock quartet The Medium debuted in 2019 with Get It While It’s Hot, and “longtime friends” Sam Silva, Shane Perry, Michael Brudi, and Jared Hicks followed it up in 2022 with For Horses. The third Medium album, City Life, is their first with a lineup change–Brudi appears to have departed, and multi-instrumentalist and producer Peter Brooks has stepped in to round out the band’s sound on their latest LP. If this was a transitional period for The Medium, it’s a seamless one–although they’re not exactly a “country band”, there’s a Nashville smoothness to City Life. Perry, the primary songwriter, isn’t shy about incorporating his influences–namely, classic, harmony-heavy folk rock, 60s studio-tinkering pop, and power pop (evoking both originals like Neil Young, The Kinks, and The Beach Boys and later practitioners like 10cc and Todd Rundgren). The ten-song, twenty-seven minute LP is casual-sounding but brightly polished, demure but unabashedly enthusiastic. Instead of sweating the details, City Life tackles the task of making new music in this well-trod terrain without a care, and lets the turns and twists subsequently come naturally.

It’s hard to overstate just how breezy the opening title track to City Life is–as it turns out, it’s a great primer on what to expect from The Medium in the record’s next nine songs, nestled comfortably in between their big-aiming power pop and intricate, soft folk rock sides. Those inclined to gravitate to the former of those two subgenres will be most drawn towards the sparkling “Sellout City” (I’ve got to imagine there are plenty of unknown Nashville songwriters who’ve tried their hand at something like this one, although I doubt most of their finished products sound half as good as The Medium do here), as well as “Golden Angels”, the one song on the record that could non-ironically be mentioned in the same sentence as “punk rock” (in a Cheap Trick kind of way, although that excellent riff is a bit more surf rock), and the sneakily great Who-by-way-of-dB’s “Name of the Game”. Of course, what makes The Medium stand out from a lot of these other guitar pop pastiche groups is that they’re just as excited about the slower, less “cool” sides of this kind of music. You hear it all over the album–there’s the snail-slow, almost pre-rock-and-roll supernatural balladry of “Ghost in the Garden”, the mid-tempo Village Green Society town hall of “Frown Town”, the way-better-than-it-should-be alt-country tearjerker “The Day Dale Died” (“My friends, NASCAR fans aren’t supposed to cry,” sings Perry as he begins his tribute to The Intimidator), and the After the Gold Rush/Harvest falsetto hayride of “Horse in Heart”. Seeing these glimmers of the past is part of the fun of City Life–and the key word here is fun, which is what The Medium practice on the album with no strings attached. (Bandcamp link)

Closebye – Hammer of My Own

Release date: August 23rd
Record label: Self-released
Genre: Folk rock, soft rock, psychedelic pop, art rock
Formats: Vinyl, digital
Pull Track: Hammer of My Own

New York quintet Closebye released their first album, Lucid News, in 2022, a sometimes-spirited, sometimes-delicate collection of folky indie rock music. The band’s undergone a lineup change since then–vocalist/songwriter Jonah Paul Smith still leads the band, and multi-instrumentalists Julian Paint Smith and Ian Salazar are still there, too, but they’re joined by a new rhythm section of bassist Margaux Bouchegnies and drummer Simon Clinton on their sophomore album, Hammer of My Own. From the first time I heard Hammer of My Own, I’ve been drawn to its distinct sound, one that teases and stretches out the folk rock of their debut in some surprising ways. Produced by Salazar, Hammer of My Own introduces a clear early-90s alt-dance-pop influence into Closebye’s sound, but it’s not a departure from their previous style so much as an addition–if anything, the band are even more committed to making wistful, acoustic-guitar-based folk-and-soft rock on this album, too. The new touches Closebye explore here will either come all of a sudden, veering away from the band’s more peaceful side quickly but deftly, or so subtly that one might not even perceive them without a close listen.

“Lucky Number” opens Hammer of My Own by combining a bunch of different threads oh-so-casually–the sound effects and dramatic drumbeat that kick off the record are a small slice of screamadelica, but the song that begins once Paul Smith starts singing and strumming is an incredibly laid-back, dreamy, psychedelic folk pop introduction to Closebye (but, nevertheless, the elements hinted at in the song’s opening attempt to rear up during the instrumental breaks). After “Lucky Number”, Closebye seem to retreat into the world of more traditional (but still quite spirited) indie rock, with “Fortress” and “Two Knocks” sounding smooth and reverent, while the rhythms and wide-eyed chorus of “Power Trip” don’t rock the boat too much. Closebye really get inventive on the second half of Hammer on My Own, though, between songs like single “Pilates” (a dance-friendly pop-rock tune with a bit of Spoon to it, earning a title that’s a form of exercise) and the oasis pop of the title track, an incredibly bright, maximalist cloud-breaking art-pop anthem. “Hammer of My Own” would be a triumphant send-off for the album, but Closebye actually wrap it up with “Corridor”, a more subtle, folk-based finale. “Corridor” is a more restrained take on Hammer of My Own’s sound, pulling in bits of soft rock and sophisti-pop over Paul Smith’s sturdy skeleton. Hammer of My Own has moments that feel like a rush, but Closebye wield their new weapons with the experience of veterans who know when to add a softer touch, too. (Bandcamp link)

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