Soft Tigers
Gospel Ambitions

In many ways, Soft Tigers arrive to fill the spot recently vacated on the local pop landscape by Architecture In Helsinki. There is a gaucheness to them – check ‘Makin’ Love’, which wobbles along a very fine line between sweet and embarrassing – offset by a sly, tongue-in-cheek cleverness. It’s a combination that some people will distrust, though on balance I’m convinced by it. Gospel Ambitions has genuine warmth, not least musically, filled with rich old keyboard tones and sweet bass.

The difference between this official CD release and the earlier, independently circulated cassette tape of the same name lies in the mix: this new version is fuller, punchier, calibrated for radio play. It works particularly well on the more rhythmic tracks, like ‘Mr Ice Cream’, an enticing melange of finger-clicks, indie hip-hop and street atmospherics. This is a homely album in more than one sense – familiar, but also domesticated, even suburban, strolling through the shopping mall (‘Karate’) and down to the beach (‘Friday Afternoon’). Musically, it takes in the aforementioned AIH – in their earliest, gentlest incarnation – via Grandmaster Flash, if you can imagine those steel beats pillowed by easy sunshine. As the final, hidden track affirms, “Everything’s gonna be alright”, and maybe it always was.

by Emmy Hennings