FALSE LIGHTS

Welsh band SOFT HEARTED SCIENTISTS is an entity that has been around in one shape or another for around a decade by now, making their initial foray into the world of recording artists in 2004 with two EPs, expanding their catalog with a substantial amount of EPs, compilations and albums over the next few years. Among more than a dozen productions "False Lights" is their third ever full length original studio album, self-released by the band in the spring of 2013.

Timeless music revolving around acoustic guitars and keyboards, light toned harmonic arrangements with a nice psychedelic flavoring is what Soft Hearted Scientists provides on "False Lights", complete with an underplayed tongue in cheek humor as a distinct presence throughout. Whimsical in mood and spirit, even when dealing with fairly dark subject matters, and with an overall sound that makes me suspect that fans of early Pink Floyd and The Beatles might make out a prime audience for the band. Especially for those amongst them who also tends to enjoy the bands exploring the so-called Canterbury tradition.

The Welsh band "Soft Hearted Scientists" makes a special form of music not similar with other bands here on this site. They have made three records and the last one "False lights" was released this year. I don't get information about the musicians on this site by the record lasts for 56 minutes and the art work is nice, a mystical picture with different occurrences. The members of the band are Nathan Hall, Dylan Line, Paul Jones and Michael Bailey.

I would call their music psychedelic folk pop, done in the same mood as a lot of music from the late 60s. I guess the music also has connections with some form of indie music. The links to the prog seems not to be especially strong, but still it's very interesting music.

The albums starts and ends with the sound of monks and in between there is a lot of fine and inspired music. Soft Hearted Scientists does very vocal oriented music and I love the voice style and the accent I hear. The music is full of instruments and very honest performenced. My favourite tracks are "Seeing" and "False Lights" which are perfect gems and a lot of the others also have a strong and enjoyable quality: "Seeing further", "Golgatha", "Song from the River", "Turn of tables" and "Panorama"(they're also very good).

I wouldn't say there is anything really inferior here and I can really recommend a listening of this record. Amongst the best ingredients is the vocals and the lyrics. Not very connected with other prog, this is interesting and good.

Released in 2013, 'False Lights' was both the third and fifth album from the Welshmen (who by now had extended to a quintet with the addition of drummer Frank Naughton) as although it was only their third album of all new- material they had already released a compilation of EP's plus one of demo recordings. This album saw the band move into a slightly different direction as it wasn't as whimsical as some of their earlier works, and they were also expanding the musical sounds they were using, while the use of a drummer (deliberately sparingly it must be said) also made changes to what we were hearing. It is also darker and somewhat more considered, but any group which is using the sounds of an accordion can never be taken too seriously.

This is again very much acoustic based, but this contains far more of a progressive aspect and songs such as the title track owe a great deal to early Pink Floyd and has obviously been influenced by "Pow R. Toc H.", although this contains vocals. The music of "Golgatha" is more powerful, and somewhat slower, and one listens to the subject matter which includes references Nagasaki and Gestapo among others, one feels the band are putting out quite a statement. They have moved on without ever losing touch with their roots, and I can see how this album would have gained them many new fans without alienating any who had been with them since the early days. Fans of the Canterbury Scene, psychedelia, folk and pop really need to discover this band if they haven't already.