The Soft Pack- Extinction
Tue 9 Feb 2010
The Soft Pack- Extinction
6/10
San Francisco band The Soft Pack (formerly The Muslims) present us with Extinction - an early singles and EPs collection of releases prior to their name change. It serves as a great introduction to the kind of garagey-rock and roll that they play, and chronicles their sound in the formative stages of the band. That sound starts off a-howlin’ on opener ‘Bright Side’, easily channeling the best riffs of The Strokes. The Soft Pack aren’t afraid to play it close to their influences, and it’s evident across the ten tracks that make up Extinction. They dabble in a bit of Black Lips-lite garage on ‘On My Time’, and the languid guitar drawl of ‘Call It A Day’. Elsewhere there are strong nods to Iggy and The Stooges and The Velvet Underground, on tracks like ‘Beside Myself’. It’s not bad, more-so uninspired, as the band confuse influences with homage. Extinction finishes on a highpoint, with stand out track ‘Right And Wrong’ showing a clearer streak of originality and a better direction of where they’re possibly headed, heard on newer tracks like ‘Answer to Yourself’, which will appear on their debut self-titled album.
David
