various – under the net

If that wasn’t bad enough we feel a sense of heartbreak coming on at the realisation that we’ve somehow missed out on this, again sneaked beneath our radar another 50 only cassette release from Soft Power – this one a 6 track compilation entitled ‘under the net’ featuring new, forthcoming and unreleased material from a specially invited gathering of souls who’ve all featured at some point on the label thus far. Treats a plenty here not least the opening cut from blood of the bull whose ‘comeback’ arrives seductively steeled in the kind of sun crushed soft psych wooziness oft found on releases bearing the name Haight Ashbury tattooed to their backsides. Something of an off guarded nugget next with the appearance amid our ear waves of Andrew R Hill’s ‘I won’t come back’ which aside having you dumbfounded and wiping the occasional trickling tear from your cheek sounds for all the world as though its just walked straight out of a 50’s teen crush flick, reflective and heart breaking and dare we say much adorned in the kind of tender craftmanship occasioned by that dude Kevin Tihista. Those lying awake at night struggling for rest with thoughts of what if Gallon Drunk, Shadowy Men from a Shadowy Planet and the Flaming Stars found themselves holed up together in a locked studio – and what would they sound like – might do well to take a wee gander at ‘commitment’ by the Autumns – post punked out garage psych oozing in Lynchian noir swamp dragging the Creepers carcass and frankly doing good bad things all over your hi-fi. More Witching Waves groove courtesy of the acutely angular ‘creeping’ – a psychosis seeped dark heart that nods ever so slightly to ‘the scream’ era Banshees before decamping themselves into the softly psych shimmer of the Heartthrobs. Wolf Girl follow in hot pursuit with ‘Samson’ mentioned elsewhere here and still sounding as good as it did half an hour ago when we first heard it (new 5 track tape release ‘mama’s boy’ due to land very soon). All said – and by a close call I don’t mind saying-  is Theoretical Girls ‘thorn in my side’ here given the lush and tender treatment by way of a string quartet treatment – seriously this will blow you away dressed in all its baroque pastoral finery and sweetly arrested with angelic arcs and to die for honey cut harmonies.  http://softpowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/under-the-net-2