Some thought it was a copout for San Diego garage-rockers the Muslims to give themselves such a cheekily provocative name-- well, coming from four white guys based in a U.S. military outpost, at least-- only to recoil in the face of mounting media attention and change it to the more innocuous Soft Pack. But listening to the band's second album (and first under the new handle) the name-switcheroo scheme now feels appropriately symbolic of the band's evolving personality: Their two-minute missives still charge ahead with jangle-punk strums, pedal-to-the-floor backbeats, and deadpan vocal delivery, but all that swagger can't conceal the band's congenial and increasingly introspective nature.
With the album's opening track, the Soft Pack become maybe the 10,000th rock band to write a song called "C'mon", but coming from laconic frontman Matt Lamkin, the song is less about inciting action (note the lack of exclamation point), than an eye-rolling dismissal of the trendspotting and premature hype that consumes (and kills) so many bands: "Don't have the look, don't have the name/ Don't have the walk, don't want to talk, don't act the same/ Now your town could be the next big thing." Now, San Diego isn't the first city on anyone's lips when people talk about A&R destinations, but the Soft Pack are probably old enough to have witnessed early-90s scene-leaders Rocket from the Crypt, Drive Like Jehu, and Three Mile Pilot trade up to major labels only to get dropped or disband. And following their own hype-magnet experiences at prior CMJ and SXSW appearances-- not to mention a relocation to the music-biz capital of Los Angeles-- the Soft Pack now sound more cautious than caustic. Amid the playful call-and-response choruses and locomotive rhythms, we hear sincere declarations of independence ("Answer to Yourself"), rejections of romance ("Down on Loving"), and warnings against material self-indulgence ("More or Less").
Like the Muslims' 2008 debut album, The Soft Pack sticks to a 1960s-vintage 10-song/30-minute schematic, but under producer Eli [#script:http://pitchfork.com/media/backend/js/tiny_mce/themes/advanced/langs/en.js]|||||| Janney (ex- [#script:http://pitchfork.com/media/backend/js/tiny_mce/themes/advanced/langs/en.js]|||||| Girls Against Boys) it effectively opens the garage door to let the fumes out and more fresh air in, favoring melodic, Love-like leads over power chords, and adding acoustic backing tracks for extra bounce and depth. And though Lamkin's monotone voice is not the most expressive instrument-- it barely wavers whether the occasion calls for a Monks-style organ vamp ("Move Along") or a prom-night embrace ("Mexico")-- each album side gradually ratchets up the tension and releases it through a raucous rave-up ("Pull Out" on side A, "Parasites" on side B) that successfully bridges the Soft Pack's Nuggets-schooled ethos with the modern-day discord of San Diegan patron saints Hot Snakes. So while the Soft Pack may exhibit more grace and decorum these days, those seething send-off tracks are proof the band has gone soft in name only.
