THE SLOW CYCLONE

Welsh band SOFT-HEARTED SCIENTISTS has been around in one guise or another for the better part of a decade, their career as recording artists starting with a couple of EPs released back in 2004. Since then a fairly large number of productions in various formats has been crafted by them, including four studio albums. "The Slow Cyclone" is the most recent of these, self-released by the band in 2014.

"The Slow Cyclone" is a careful, lo-fi and presumably low-budget creation that hones in on the gentler aspects of psychedelic music, where acoustic guitars, gentle keyboards and careful vocals are the main and key aspects throughout. Understated music from a nation known for understatements, with careful nuances and subtle details being key aspects of the music itself, but at times with stark contrasts between the music played out and the lyrics conveyed as dark topics tend to be explored within a calm and at times whimsical atmosphere. Those fond of acoustic music, folk music and psychedelic folk music will probably be a key audience for this album, and especially those among them with a taste for music that is odd in a charming, sweet manner that sometimes hides a sharp topical edge.

The fourth full-length studio album of all-new material was released by Soft Hearted Scientists in 2014 and featured 24 songs with a total running time of less than an hour. Some of these numbers last less than 20 seconds, with the majority being around the three-minute mark and just one breaking five. This feels more of a structured release than the others, with the songs moving through different styles as the listener moves through the album, so there is a real desire to keep going all the way through to the end and work through the emotions and hooks. "Drifting Away" honestly sounds as if it was recorded more than 50 years ago, with plenty of acoustic guitars and bass plus some delicate synths in the background, but what makes this song is the total change in the bridge when the vocals and whole style of music is different and then it goes back again. Harmony vocals abound throughout this album, and there is far more whimsy and naivety than on 'False Light', as they go back more to the style they started with.

Early Pink Floyd are still a major influence, and in some ways, I can hear Buffalo Springfield, combining with the likes of The Byrds, early Caravan, Syd Barrett and even The Beatles. One of the delights of their music is also the lyrics, which are always well thought out and often tell stories which the listener wants to settle back and enjoy. Even the story of the "Hermit Crab" is incredibly visual, and one really agrees with the words being sung. The introduction of a seagull's squawk at the end is both unnecessary and rather mean! Anyone who enjoys this style of music will great a deal from discovering this album, as yet again Soft Hearted Scientists have released something which is immensely enjoyable on very first hearing and it only gets better the more it is played.