Velvet Crush
Soft Sounds
On their latest album, the appropriately named Soft Sounds, The Velvet Crush delve deeper into the folksy harmonies and slide guitars that have always been more subdued in their earlier power-pop releases. While still a collaboration between equal partners – Rick Menck and Paul Chastain – this time around Chastain took the reins and recorded much of the music on his own for a solo album that never materialized. Menck added his contributions later to make the disc a true Velvet Crush effort. Matthew Sweet, long-time buddy of the band, contributed use of his home studio along with some guitar playing and backing vocals.
Soft Sounds is a mixed bag, in that some songs work wonderfully and others fail miserably. While all the songs on the disc are uniformly soft-rock (definitely in the vein of Mojave 3′s much better Excuses for Travellers) the album occasionally suffers from a painful blandness. Attempts to liven things up, such as the cheesy 70s-sounding keyboard number “Party Line (Samba)” don’t help much. There are three cover tracks on the album, and they fit in decently assuming you’re not too attached to the originals. I initially despised the Alex Chilton and the Box Top’s cover “Rollin’ in My Sleep,” though I must admit the twee tenderness of the song has grown on me with subsequent listens.
On the whole, there’s nothing special here, but if you’re a fan of The Velvet Crush (or of super-soft rock, I guess) this disc just might find a home in your player. Myself, I can always make room for one more album of weepy harmonicas and jangly guitars.