Soft Rock For The Anxious
Independent release
First encounters have the habit of going awry. And with this in mind, I approached ‘The Pretty Littles’ third album, ‘Soft Rock For The Anxious’, with a certain degree of apprehension. Would the shock of the new prove to be merely shocking?
I needn’t have worried: right from the get-go, these four likely lads from Melbourne had me won over with their eclectic musical stylings. In fact, the album seems to have been produced with the uninitiated in mind.
What we get here is a sort of tasting menu, where listeners of all stripes can find something to their liking. For those partial to sweet flavours, new single ‘Sleeping in Water’ provides the perfect fix, while opening track ‘Soda Pop’ fizzes with a youthful gusto, not to mention the anthemic beauty of Triple J-favourite ‘Pride’; but astringent flavours also manage to find a space on the album, which should come as no surprise when ‘Shit Head’ appears as a song title, and there is enough dirty garage rock to satisfy those without a sweet tooth. Indeed, it is the sheer amount of variety on display that makes for such a rewarding listening experience.
For me, this was a first encounter of the very good kind.
4 STARS
CHRIS PRINDIVILLE
