Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase? - The Soft Pink Truth: Review
is the side project of Drew Daniel, most well known for his work with experimental and conceptual electronic duo Matmos. As The Soft Pink Truth he has focused more on house and dance oriented music which is usually less thematic than Matmos albums. Sinning is the first Soft Pink Truth record of fully original material since 2004.
Review By Lavender:
Given how big of a fan I am of Matmos I was excited to learn years ago that The Soft Pink Truth side project existed, and while I liked Drew's first two albums they didn't stick with me the way so much of Matmos' music has. Despite that I was excited to give this record a listen once I figured out it even existed after it had passed me by when it was initially released. While some of the music here is once again pretty solid the record doesn't hit all the right notes.
The album gets off to a pretty solid start on its first two tracks. Shall is the opener and it sets a strange ethereal tone for the record that paid well with some genuinely warm vocals calling out the albums title phrase. The haunting ambiance and gentle touchy production style makes the whole song sound like it could be on a horror movie soundtrack and I dig it. We is an intimate and lowkey house track that takes its time getting started but I really enjoy the core of the track. The percussion is smooth and full bodied and it pairs perfectly with the accompanying vocal samples. Even though I can't tell exactly what it is that's making the soft little instrumental flourishes on the song I still really enjoy them.
The records two longest songs are thankfully both hits. Sinning builds around a planky key phrase that I really enjoy before the pulsating percussion settles the track into its core groove. The song drives along introducing a brass section slowly at first before it turns into a louder and more driving sound reaching near cacophony at points and making for a standout track. Grace is the other 6 minute song and it's come to be my favorite on the record. It features rattling percussion and distant murky yet beautiful keys that give the track an extraordinarily rich atmosphere. It never feels like it truly settles down either and spends the entire runtime progressing and indulging in new sounds and evolving its core loop and I just really enjoy it.
That is one of the most unconventionally structured songs here but I also enjoy it quite a bit. The unpredictable sea of keys that washes in repeatedly is a rewarding feature of the track time and time again. The song maintains an unsettling energy throughout that I think is really interesting. The closing track May Increase is also good and has some fragile vocal samples hanging gently above some of the most rich and natural sounding keys on the entire record. It's an ending that is a bright spot for both quality and aesthetic appeal.
Go is one of the shorter tracks here and it just doesn't add up to much for me, by the time it starts to make any kind of impression whatsoever its already basically over. On has some decent soundplay but that is really it as far as things I like about it. The stark piano instrumental doesn't mesh that well with the really feint vocal samples and backing keys meaning the song never really reaches that distant drone that so many of these other tracks do. Finally So is the least compositionally appealing track here as a pseudo ballad type track with keys that are decent on their own. Unfortunately there are some annoyingly incessant vocal samples that bother me to the point where I think they ruin the mood that the song was trying to pull off.
Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase is pretty good and if you like house music you should check it out. The record isn't really going to pull anything too far out of your wheelhouse and I get just as much enjoyment from it as I do from a record like Four Tet's earlier this year. With generally interesting sounds and good compositions this has everything it needs to be an enjoyable record without really ever pushing the envelope the way that Matmos have become so well known for doing. 7/10
Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:
Nice cover! A little old fashioned and it seems like they were going for a pulled back approach and kept it really simple. All the graphics are nice and well rendered and I love the circular text. I'm not crazy about the color and I think it needs a little more contrast between the two but otherwise it's a minimal and effective cover. 6/10
For more house check out my review of Four Tet's Sixteen Oceans here
