Soft Metals – Lenses

Soft Metals are too smart for their own good. ‘Lenses’, the pair’s follow up to their 2011 self-titled debut, includes a lot of nice sounds and clever references, but crucially, for the kind of noises they’re showing off, forgets to incite dancing.

They’ve successfully fused a myriad of influences; the vintage synths so loved of Ian Hicks can’t help but evoke the pioneers of the late 70s and early 80s, while Patricia Hall’s well-spoken, ethereal, vocals are decidedly 90s alongside the VHS-esque artwork. Yet something doesn’t click; it’s pleasant enough, but pleasant isn’t designed for dirty dance floors; pretty melancholy isn’t meant for 2am.

Like an anecdote desperately mis-remembered or discovering, multiple hours in, that night’s alcohol is having no effect, ‘Lenses’, despite its four-to-the-floor tendencies and impeccable imagery, falls flat.