Customer Reviews

It's Love

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and yes, it IS love!! Perhaps it's the way the sweetness of their voices blend together as though they were never meant to be apart. Or maybe it's the purity of their simple, unlayered, and distinctly "softies" sound coupled with the innocent decadence of their playful lyrics that set the softies apart from other underground female musician/songwriters/vocalists. With It's Love, The Softies prove that LESS can in fact be more. Their deliciously simplistic and infectious hooks provide a fresh alternative for music lovers who have grown tired of studio created music. With near perfect songs such as "Love You More" and "Alaska" these girls prove that less is more. Previous fans of The Softies will immediately recognize It's Love as vintage Softies, while new listeners will wonder how they did without the magic of these girls for so long.

I had never heard the Softies before but I already owned Go Sailor, which Rose Melberg is part of. That instantly made the album appealing and on a whim I chose "It's Love" as my first Softies purchase. I was not disappointed. Every song is absolutely beautiful. Rose Melberg and Jen Sbragia's voices are euphoric, whether alone or together. The music is simple; at most two guitars, whispy and twirled around the sweetest melodies. Although the entire album is perfect, personal favorites are: "An Aweful Mess", "Charms Around Your Wrist", "Hello Rain", "I Love You More", "Alaska", "This House" (an instrumental), "Perfect Afternoon", and "Until You Tell".

It's Love...

It's Love, as well as the other albums, focus less on instrumentals and more on great singing then in the past with Rose (Go Sailor, Tiger Trap). I personally would prefer the more edgy sound of Tiger Trap, but this album is another great work of art. I bought most of her music after only hearing Go Sailor, and purely on faith that they would be great albums, including her work with the Softies and have not been disappointed.

The Softies are composed of just two women and two guitars with beautiful melodies and harmonies that seep into your heart. Don't expect to hear drums or bass on these songs because they would simply be superfluous. Their is superb songwriting from beginning to end on this album with sparse arrangements and mellifluous interplay between two lovely female vocals. Buy this and any other Softies album you can find.

These songs are so precious. I'm amazed how they can write such such spectacularly moving songs in such a subtle way. Ah, the Softies. Rather than writing long drawn out songs about breakups and cheating boyfriends they write about love in general with such soul and warmth that it's hard not to empathize with them. Strongly influenced by the Marine Girls, yet somewhat more cheerful, the Softies are simple ladies wanting to speak of love without sounding pretentious. Songs like It's Love, which captures the feeling of new love accurately, and songs like Hello Rain, which captures the loneliness of a broken romance beautifully, are full of depth and warm yet are simple in lyrics but powerful in emotion. If you want to hear a few of them completely then google the words 'It's Love Softies wfmu playlist' and you can find I love You More and Follow Me, two fantastic songs, on a college radio playlist in Real Audio. Other than that, buy this amazing C.D.

I've never met anyone who has ever heard of this album, which is a shame since it's easily one of the best things ever to come out of K Records, the Olympia scene, the Pacific Northwest scene, the 1990s, punk rock, and music in general. This is basically the quiet folk-pop predecessor to the All Girl Summer Fun Band, who, don't get me wrong, I think are great and all, but the Softies are just absolutely incredible. Think Elliott Smith's self-titled record (esp. stuff like "Clementine"), "Fox in the Snow"-era Belle & Sebastiain, or a clean-tone electric version of the guitar interplay on the Kings of Conveneince's first LP. Except the Softies actually ARE women, instead of just acting like it, so maybe Georgia-led Yo La Tengo (the quiet stuff like their "Needle of Death" cover or "What Can I Say," or most stuff, for that matter, from their outstanding Fakebook album) would be a more apt comparison.
It's on K Records, and yeah, it's kind of twee, but you really don't need to wear a cardigan and tortoise-shell glasses to appreciate this music. Personally, I find that the aforementioned Elliott Smith, Belle & Sebastian, and Kings of Convenience get a bit old after a while, but I've had It's Love for years now and I play it much much more than the critically-lauded titles I just mentioned.
A real treasure.

The Softies have to be heard to be believed. At a time when most Indie acts are concentrating on post-Nirvana/Pixies musical deconstruction with the volume maxed out, the Softies offer us a more pleasant side of Indie rock. "It's Love," one of the band's more polished attempts at musical perfection, is minimal and grand at the same time. A rythm and meandering solo guitar are the only instruments that appear on the disc, and the catchy sound is accompanied by two of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard. The Softies' harmonic arrangement is dead on in "It's Love," the songs are heavenly, and the album is a classic.

She's sweet, She's nice, her skin is whiter than lice. To kiss her would be divine, my mind would sublime. Wishing someday she'd touch my skin, I know she'd seek out my dark boyish grin. Juniper-Flux please know it's me.... oh how I look forward to tea! tea! tea!