Soft Science
Merging elements of affectionate noise pop, driving indie rock, and shoegaze, Soft Science bring together a half-dozen veterans of California's indie scene, including members of Holiday Flyer, the California Oranges, and English Singles. Led by the gossamer vocals of Katie Haley, they delivered their full-length debut, Highs and Lows, in 2011. Parts jangle and noise pop, Detour followed suit in 2014, and by 2023's Lines, they had gradually added denser layers of metallic shimmer and harmony vocals to their giddy, bittersweet relationship songs.
Soft Science was founded in 2009 by prior collaborators and bandmates Katie Haley (Holiday Flyer, the California Oranges) and brothers Matt and Ross Levine (Welt, the Tank, the California Oranges). Inking a deal with Sacramento's Test Pattern Records and adding Mason DeMusey (Forever Goldrush) on bass, Haley covered lead vocals, Matt Levine plays guitars, and Ross Levine handled drums on their debut album, 2011's Highs and Lows. It introduced their mix of bittersweet jangle pop and driving, distortion-injected noise pop in a relatively -- but only relatively -- streamlined form, as did the follow-up, 2014's Detour, which featured the same four-piece lineup. That album did, however, add keyboards by their drummer as well as "additional processing and synthesis" by electronic artist Hans Munz. A split single with the like-minded Luxembourg Signal followed on Test Pattern in 2015. Soft Science's third full-length, 2018's Maps, found Ross Levine rotated to synths, Tony Cale (English Singles, Arts & Leisure) added to the lineup on drums, and Munz on board as an official member on electronics, as they expanded their sound into more shimmery territory. Ross Levine and Cale oversaw production.
With their sound becoming only more densely layered and opaque, the group moved to Shelflife for the release of their fourth album, 2023's Lines. Their first album without DeMusey in the lineup, they welcomed Cale's partner, Becky Cale (Arts & Leisure), to the band on bass.
© Marcy Donelson /TiVo
Discography
10 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Lines
Alternative & Indie - Released by Spinout Nuggets - Shelflife Records - Fastcut Records on 8 Sep 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Highs And Lows
Alternative & Indie - Released by Test Pattern on 24 May 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Undone / I Don't Know Why I Love You
Pop - Released by Test Pattern on 6 Apr 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Maps
Alternative & Indie - Released by Test Pattern on 1 Jun 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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"Dying Star (Cirrus) / Breaking"
The Luxembourg Signal, Soft Science
Pop - Released by Test Pattern on 11 Dec 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo