Brighton’s SoftTop announce their debut album with ‘Paving Stones’
Why mess around? When you’ve got the vision and the talent, and the band around you to make it happen, why mess about with single after single, EP after EP, when you could go direct for the long play? That’s the path Brighton’s SoftTop are taking, and their latest single proves exactly why.
When SoftTop played in the attic room of Hope and Ruin, one of Brighton’s many, many venues, in the crowd, all of the city’s many, many faces were there, and those that weren’t were merely metres away on the stage. That alone is a perfect encapsulation of the city’s scene, where friendship is perhaps the most essential ingredient for all the incredible music floating out of the place. With a whole crowd keen to help and support one another, it raises everyone up.
SoftTop’s leader, Miles Goodall, stands as the clearest example of that and it’s loudest advocate. Each December, he runs his own community-led festival called Mumfest, and each year he’s blown away by the way the scene comes out in the cold for it.
“I heard a band say at a show recently, ‘All ships rise with the tide’, and that’s largely the attitude here,” Goodall said to Far Out and his own band are a perfect microcosm for that.
Goodall serves as the tour manager for Hutch, driving them from show to show, and in return, some of the members, along with a scattered cast of some of Brighton’s other best players, take to the stage as members of SoftTop in return.
It’s not just a matter of favours, though. Hearing the band’s latest single, ‘Paving Stones’, it’s obvious why any musician would want to get involved, as the track leads in with a delicious bass riff and is then joined by some glorious cello.
At any given show, SoftTop features your classic band set up, Goodall on vocals and keys, and then clarinet and cello to boot. Creating compositions far more interesting than your average, the sonics are matched by a uniqueness of substance too, led by Goodall’s storytelling.
With all that in place, it brings us back around to the main question – Why mess around? When you have a band that tight and devoted, a voice as rich as Goodall’s and an imagination sharp enough to already have an 11-track record ready, following one neat concept storyline from start to finish, why not just go all in?
So Goodall is. Announcing their debut album alongside the new single, the record Gathering Dust is set for release on June 19th, backed by Brighton’s beloved indie label, Crafting Room Records. As another crowning jewel in a city full of diamonds, the Brighton scene keeps on delivering greatness, all fuelled by the power of community support.
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