Cut by Connan Mockasin and ex-Late of the Pier member, LA Priest, Soft Hair is a prime example of when the weird and wonderful of music collides into the narcissistic artist. Soft Hair are everything you love and loathe simultaneously, it’s sickly sweet, fantastically inventive and also full of detestable bravado. The album’s recording took place over five years amongst the pair’s busy solo careers. Late of the Pier disbanded back in 2010 when the fist of the music industry squeezed the last gasps out of nu-rave. Since their dispersion, keys player – Samuel Dust, now known under his new moniker, LA Priest, has gone on to release his debut solo album, Inji. Meanwhile, Connan Mockasin, who initially met Dust when he supported Late of the Pier on tour in 2009, has gone onto spread his gloopy psych-pop into the cuffs of the music industry, forging quite the cult following. When the announcement of Soft Hair was given back in summertime with the slightly disturbing but typically Mockasin press shot, the music press went weak at the knees to see what the expectedly sleazy outcome would be.

Mockasin has never abided by conventions as such. The videos for his solo work have always put into context his abstract thought processes, if you’ve not seen ‘I’m The Man, That Will Find You’, run to YouTube now – it’s a work of art in its own right. Ultimately, this persona is something that spills over comfortably into Soft Hair too. Even with a name like Soft Hair, you can only try to (or not to, as the case may be) picture what the duo were imagining at the time.

‘Relaxed Lizard’ is packed with what the duo term as ‘a blend of familiar, unfamiliar and unconventionally attractive sounds’. The wobbles of guitar trip through chorus pedals and bend through phasing, while drums bounce lethargically as if they are trying to keep up with Mockasin’s high pitches. The bass runs underneath like gloop, it rolls up and down underneath twinkling keys.

It is the awkward sexiness that Mockasin and Dust ooze throughout that is the real root of the unconventional sound though. ‘Jealous Lies’ carries a slight ska sound at first, something that would probably make Jerry Dammers grimace slightly. It is drowned in chorus once more that makes it seem as if it is being performed completely underwater, the sounds don’t float though, they sink to the bottom. The song lacks any real hook throughout – what feels like intent at the start fails to materialise into anything other than a four and a half minute jam.

‘I.V.’ is a throwback to Dust’s time in Late of the Pier – it is a slight interlude in the album, full of spaced synthesised swells and choral singing before we are lead into the 70s funk of ‘A Goood Sign’ (intentionally spelt with three o’s). It struggles to get going at the start, lingering with fragility around Dust’s seedy mumble, however towards the back end we hit the highs of 80s synth-pop with something slightly akin to LCD Soundsystem.

The first taste we had of their eight-track debut came in the form of ‘Lying Has To Stop’ – a definite high point of the album that carries the first real chorus and solid rhythm. Glows of synth echo throughout before that typically creepy growl of Dust contrasts perfectly with Mockasin’s androgynous saunter, each putting chills down your spine. ‘In Love’ fails to offer anything in addition though, as it acts more as a continuation of the track before that was so much better. This ultimately begins to form the closure of Soft Hair’s album. As you hit ‘Alive Without Medicine’, you begin to realise that the novelty of the duo has been sold and buried already.

Obtuse guitar sounds that are spliced with stuttering keys are the weapon of choice for the duo. As you drag yourself to the final track, ‘L.I.V’, the remarkably laid back sound and rhythm is so horizontal that you can kind of completely zone out of what is arguably the least compelling music to listen to. Drifts of synth wash over you and since ‘Lying Has To Stop’, you can’t really pinpoint any particular hook that made you remember the closing three tracks.

The concept of Soft Hair feels as if it is perhaps slightly too avant-garde and pretentious for its own good. There are occasional glimmers of genius behind the excessive face-paint and wall of narcism but ultimately, piecing the album together in various studios, hotels and apartments around the world has lead for a record that feels more like a collection of ideas than a concise album. If there was a little more purpose and intent in the album away from what sounds to be underwater jams, it could have been something marvellous.
Tom Churchill

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