A while ago (maybe even a few years now) I was reading about how the internet and the access to so much music had helped see a decline in musical tribes. Look at the past: the mods hated the rockers, the punks hated the hippies; when I was at school you were either a rocker or a raver (basically, was your favourite band Nirvana or The Prodigy?). We've had goths, new romantics, those who only listen to hip-hop, and many many more. More recently, the last couple of generations have placed less importance on this. You could like reggae just as much as you liked pop and it would be no problem. The compartmentalisation of music was being broken down, and perhaps now more than ever, tastes are less confined. The Soon-Another are maybe a band who exemplify this better than most.
The reason for this is the diversity of the band's make-up. US musician Adele Fournet went to work in Peru and found guitarist Felipe Wurst. This part of their biography is key: "Blending Fournet's background in classical composition and small-town indie music scenes, plus Wurst's affinity for funk, Motown, and rock, they cooked up something new and unusual." Over the last couple of years they've moved to New York, recruited Sebastian Apolinario and Ofer Levy and are now unveiling their debut album 'Autodidact'. Of course, people have been splicing genres together for decades, but this is a record that feels like it was perfectly planned to be released now. Not only do different songs feature different styles, some tracks here switch from one to another with ease, leaving a varied and versatile album that's based around pop and indie type songwriting, but contains plenty of more interesting traits.
You can hear for yourself below, so we won't spoil the party too much, but here are a few things that caught our ear when listening through this collection of songs. 'Like You Like' was the first song the band released, and it shows exactly what we mean by indie, pop and more exotic sounds being combined. There's a lot of thought to the arrangements on the whole album, but they're particularly noticeable here, as is the ever present accessible vocal style and rhythm changes. It also sounds like they're having fun making the music, and that's how things should be. The title-track has a harder urban pop sound (especially after the sugary 'The Garden') and even incorporates elements from hip-hop, but it all fits; the dual vocals (male and female, English and Spanish) of the lovely, acoustic 'Hogar'; the piano-led, funky 'Life Is Too Sort To Suck' which changes the dynamic again; the... well, we'll stop there. That's half of the album mentioned already and we could talk about each and every track in much more detail. As mentioned, this is an eclectic and modern album that takes you on as much of a journey as the creators have been on. Tuck in and enjoy.
The Soon-Another's website
Pre-order the album
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