San Diego’s The Soft Pack like their indie ramshackle, or their punk diluted with radio-friendly indie sensibilities, depending on which way you want to look at it. 2010 finds the band all excited about a new, self-titled album, of which ‘Answer To Yourself’ is a taster. The Soft Pack certainly go in all guns blazing, launching from the off here into a searing combination of simple chords, spiky guitars and rough-shod, attitude-drenched vocals, courtesy of frontman Matt Lamkin. Shades of those other US bands who straddle the punk/indie fault-line—The Strokes and the Dandy Warhols, to name a couple—spring immediately to mind here, and as Lamkin degenerates into a wail for the line, “But I think I’m gonna die/Before I see my time”, you’d be forgiven for seeing Julian Casablancas rise up like a phantom in your mind’s eye. The band were previously known by the controversy-courting moniker ‘The Muslims’, but are now playing the name game safely. A shame, because on the basis of this single, these chaps could really do with that little something extra to separate them from the, ahem, pack. It’s a decent effort, but nothing that hasn’t been done better elsewhere.
The Soft Pack sound like a bunch of politically aware American teenagers. Their song, ‘C’mon’, is a weak attempt at a statement against war – or something along those lines. The vocals sing ‘find out what it means… army, navy, air force and marines’ before breaking into a chorus of ‘Ah, C’mon’ which is repeated 3 or 4 times. Whilst this is moderately catchy, the message they are trying to convey is lost amongst the out of tune guitars, hyperactive drumming and the basic power chord riffs. The quick fire vocals in the verse are the only highlight. Much hype surrounds The Soft Pack; they appear to promise much, but on this offering they fail to deliver.
