January 24, 2010 by A.S. Van Dorston

I was flipping through MOJO magazine yesterday while picking up my semi-weekly fix of a a used CD or two at my neighborhood record store, and I saw a review of The Soft Pack. I had heard of them last year via some other UK website and had made a mental note to get around to checking them out. You’d think this was some new Brit band, but they’re actually based in San Diego. It’s not the first time an American band got its foothold in the UK before returning home (Strokes, Hendrix). My attention was also piqued due to their mention of The Modern Lovers. I have a Pavlovian compulsion to check out anyone compared to them or The Feelies.

I downloaded their EP The Muslims released last year, and previewed the upcoming self-titled album to be released on Kemado on February 2nd. The band were originally named The Muslims, but didn’t have the cajones and patience to put up with the questions, comments and insults it inspired. Anyway, The Modern Lovers comparison was way off, at least on the new album. The EP does have a more rough, spare post-Velvets jangle on a couple songs like “On My Time” that has some passing resemblence to Jonathon Richman’s first band. But the band mostly exists on the garage noir plane, like The Flaming Stars. This did not disappoint me in the least, as I love that sort of sound.

The question is which side of the fine line will The Soft Pack fall on? They could easily toil in obscurity like The Flaming Stars and become fondly remembered but somewhat dated garage revivalists like Hoodoo Gurus, The Lyres and the Lime Spiders. The abundance of needlesharp hooks on exactly 70% of the album (all but tracks 7-9, which are still solid), however, suggests they might have created a minor classic, along the lines of The Dream Syndicate’s The Days Of Wine And Roses, or even Is This It. It doesn’t hurt that they contributed to Phoenix’s remix album and opened for them alongwith many other high profile bands last year.

Time will tell, but for now this will stay at the top of my playlist and help take the edge off the winter alongside Vampire Weekend and Good Shoes. After some record release shows in California, they will return to the UK to whip the Brits into even more of a frenzy. With the hype machine at full throttle, I hope to see their show when they return to battle the backlash. I can already anticipate the tired criticisms, but they’ll be sure do well regardless.