New York – Soft Friday is the debut album of England’s psych-rock duo Coves. John Ridgard (he) and Beck Wood (she) wrote a thorough history of recent heartbreak for their first record. Soft Friday (Nettwerk Records) is a break-up album sung with a soft voice. There are no screaming vocals like in so many post-relationship records, instead Wood’s echoing voice rings sorrowfully through the tracks. The album doesn’t skimp on the emotions, but lyrically doesn’t reach too deep. It’s personal, but relatable. It could be applied to anyone’s angst-ridden break-up. As the lyrics outline the loss of love, the instrumentals melt together into one long, flowing sonic trip.
The opening track, “Fall Out Of Love,” introduces the narrator’s “brittle heart” and the continuing theme of an imploding relationship. Lyrically, Wood doesn’t hide in overarching metaphors, but rather spells out the simple facts, like “I can’t look at you no more.” The following track, “Honeybee,” circles the same territory, but with more bite. The song holds an anger that’s downplayed elsewhere. Lines like “I’m gonna curse you every time our cold eyes meet” epitomize the attitude given throughout the album, although it’s typically more resigned and less bitter sounding. Despite it’s subject, “Honeybee” is one of the funniest songs on Soft Friday. The soft thumping beat is just the stuff to sway along to, rather than sit and stiffly listen.
“Beatings” touches on an earlier phase of the narrator’s doomed relationship. The narrative is more reflective and resigned, with lines like “I closed my heart to others / you said we’ll die together.” Sonically it has the same acid rock feel that is only briefly interrupted by an impressive, but unexpected harmonica solo. The listener expects something like a sitar to emerge from the break, but instead the sharp warmth of the harmonica whistles out. It gives the feel of a bonfire after a day spent on acid at the beach. It’s followed up by “Last Desire,” which is populated by bursts from the synthesizer and persistent bass. The mantra-like repetition of “you’re the last desire” is how, like in most of these songs, Coves seems to skirt the issue of a chorus. Nothing is wrong, per se with this technique; it’s just employed for most of Soft Friday.
The plod of the bass permeates the hallucinogenic sound of the next track, “Let The Sun Go.” It sounds like something you’d hear in a Mad Men episode that was trying to position itself in the psychedelic ‘60s. Lyrically it rounds back to the resentment and hurt of “Honeybee.” The clink of keys in “No Ladder” is a welcome change in sound. It’s a slow moving, unhinged permutation of the album’s primary sound. The next song, “Cast A Shadow,” is the edgiest Soft Friday gets. The punchy guitars and slamming drums makes the track more solid than the other more free-flowing songs. The energy drops off for “Fool For Your Face,” a stripped-back song that is lyrically one of the strongest on the album. Everything is brought back to life with “Wake Up,” which enters with a silence-shattering rattle of the snare and is a standout on the album.
Overall, the album wanders around the psychedelic sound, discussing the same topic with a tolerable amount of angst. The record amounts to a ten-track discussion on heartbreak. However, it doesn’t reach redundancy and but makes up for it musically, so that any listener—no matter their relationship status—can find something on Soft Friday to listen to. Musically, it’s sun-bleached surfer rock, with psychedelic undertones and a healthy amount of fuzz. There’s more to the instrumentals of Soft Friday than there are to the lyrics, but not every listener is looking for Wood to wax poetic on her past relationship. If you’re not looking for something to play while you cry over a recent break-up, focus on the music. Ridgard’s bass is deserving of a special mention. Paired with Wood’s gentle vocals, the two have created a memorable, lovesick acid trip of a debut.
Zoe Marquedant
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