UK-based duo SOFT PLAY have just announced their fourth album, and first in six years, HEAVY JELLY – out Friday, July 19, via BMG. Accompanying the announcement is the new single Act Violently.
For a good few years, it looked shaky as to whether Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent would ever be able to find their way forward to this moment. To say a lot has happened in the intervening years is an understatement: their friendship faltered, their creativity halted, they were rocked by grief and mental health issues, and when they did emerge, it was with side projects: Laurie’s Larry Pink The Human and Isaac’s Baby Dave. Step by step, however – via time, conversation, therapy and a positive new band identity – they got back on track.
The result is HEAVY JELLY, a product of the pair’s new sense of love and appreciation for their singular bond, which is both held front and centre and the defining inspiration behind what is clearly a new career high. HEAVY JELLY is the gleeful sound of a band audibly having the best time they’ve had in years. Named after a Jiu-Jitsu instructor who told Laurie to act like ‘heavy jelly’ by means of explaining how much resistance to give in a demonstration, the turn of phrase also mirrors the duo’s worldview, “life is heavy, but it’s also funny,” summarises Isaac.
