Softies
Holiday in Rhode Island
[K]
Rating: 7.4
Nearly everyone remembers the moment when their hearts broke for the first
time. But there are those who never seem to be able to live it down; they're
stuck in that moment, unable to achieve escape velocity from an emotional
black hole. Some such people cling desperately to anyone who passes by in
the hopes that they can be pulled out; others wallow, becoming permanently
embittered and cynical. And then there are those who learn to live
comfortably in that moment, even going so far as to do a little interior
decorating-- matching drapes, throw rugs, comfy chairs, and the like. You
can probably guess which category the Softies fall into.
For five years and four albums now, Rose Melberg and Jen Sbragia of the
Softies have remained ensconced firmly in their sweet, sad little universe;
with just two guitars and two voices (not counting the occasional xylophone
or piano overdub), they've taken a setup that would otherwise be used for
Indigo Girls-style coffeehouse-folk evil and spun dreamily melancholy
indie-pop songs from it
Holiday in Rhode Island isn't exactly an ambitious artistic leap
forward from their previous albums, but so what? As far as rainy Sunday
morning hangover listening goes, it fits the bill perfectly. On top of a
bed of willowy guitars, Melberg and Sbragia exhale cherry blossoms with
every cooing sigh. Generous amounts of reverb slathered over every sound
ensures that nothing hits harder than a hail of cottonballs, not even the
drums that tiptoe their way through "Me and the Bees."
But the Softies temper all this precious prettiness from the very outset;
the first lyrics you hear on Holiday in Rhode Island are, "If I beg
you will you smother me / Just to put me out of this constant misery,"
followed by lines like, "I wish I had never known/ A heart that beats just
like my own"; "Take it downstairs/ No one here cares"; and "Now my empty
arms are of no use to anyone." The combination of happy melodies and sad
lyrics is by no means an innovation, but lesser bands often get the balance
between the two wrong, ending up sounding either coy or overwrought. The
Softies take a page from the Magnetic Fields' fakebook and sing as straight
and as dispassionately as possible, and it works, lending an emotional
authenticity to otherwise undistinguished lyrics.
Despite the sameness of instrumentation and mood, though, the songs don't
all sound alike; the Softies aren't repetitive so much as consistent. Not
all the songs here are about heartbreak or depression, either; the title
track and "You and Only You" express the inverse-- love gained rather than
lost. Is it any surprise that they sound much the same as the other songs on
Holiday in Rhode Island? Perhaps the Softies understand that there
actually isn't much of a difference between the feelings of falling into and
out of love. It's still a sensation of falling, except on Holiday in
Rhode Island it feels more like floating. And as much as the word "nice"
is overused, it's quite nice. Just like the Softies themselves. Nice.
-Nick Mirov