Soft Pipes is music that comes from outside of Atlantic City, New Jersey, now based solely in Los Angeles, California. Although the music is made within the walls of an apartment building, it clearly works on a level much deeper than the usual "cool" of most home-made indie art projects. Relying heavily on melodies reminiscent of the kind you'd find on late 60s rock records, combined with a type of "courageous innocence" you'd come across on a Noel Gallagher solo recording and the humility of Neil Young's early work, even the simplest of songs in demo form feel rich with texture. Mixing acoustic and electric guitars with warm keyboards, relaxed yet urgent vocals, and lyrics you know can't be written without actual experiences to back them up, the songs float in and out of early rock'n'roll influences, but stay steady on mellow ground to present themselves with atmospheric style and grace, rather than walls of tingy guitars and quirky singing. "Wherever you make it," says Anthony Polcino, primary songwriter, "the music you make comes from you, and if it's good, people will know it. They won't be fooled." At first listen, the songs catch on, demonstrating individuality and confidence that lurks in catchy-cool territory and invites you to come along for the ride.Given the climate of today's saturated "indie rock" radio, it seems more often than we'd like to admit that the material being dug up by new projects such as this either isn't believable, lacks the vibe that might at least make it musically interesting, or worse- both. Nevertheless, Soft Pipes manages to capture this vibe and give us something to think about while we listen to it. These results are definitely not typical in most DIY artists, and the good news is, new material is always in the making. Hopefully for our sake, we'll hear it more often than not.
