A new single from Softhub brings on a classic sort of mid to late-90s underground grunge and alternative rock vibe that comes with a bit of a garage fuzz tone and this massive guitar hook that comes right in at the start of the track and just sucks you into the song straight away.
"Trading Pieces" is an incredibly fun song and boasts as much color as it does edginess but, with all of this comes a sort of character that you end up getting attached to as well. This is something I enjoyed a lot about the track because it helps it come through with a certain kind of warmth in a way.
This song definitely has some of those classic grunge influences like I mentioned earlier but I'm also hearing elements of Weezer in there mostly from their second record Pinkerton and I love that aspect because they take that sort of influence, and they bring in this pop-rock element and make things really bright.
The chorus is super addictive but again, there's this guitar hook that sticks in your brain just as much, or even more than the chorus does, to be honest. Or at least it does in my brain.
This is something I absolutely adore about the track simply because I don't hear a lot of rock songs with guitar hooks too much anymore.
It used to be such an imperative part of rock music but that kind of died out. It just became more about the chorus which is a normal thing. It's totally fine and there's nothing wrong with a great chorus. This song has a great chorus as well.
I just feel like having a great and sort of quirky guitar riff bounce around in your mind for hours after the song has ended is such a cool thing. It made me a little bit nostalgic because that's what used to stick in my brain as a kid.
It wasn't always the choruses. It wasn't even the words. It was always these guitar parts that great bands would have.
Anyway, this track had an amazing energy as well. It was not over the top, but it made it feel like these guys may have recorded the song live on the floor to an extent and everyone involved was just feeding off each other's energy the entire time.
Even if I'm wrong about the whole live-on-the-floor aspect, listening to this track makes you want to go see them live because if that energy is captured this well on record, then seeing them play it live must be awesome.
You also have elements of those early 2000s or late 90s radio rock songs which is super fun it has a great rhythm that kind of bops in a way.
After listening to this track, I took it upon myself to take a bit of a deep dive into the band's back catalog and I'm glad that I did because there is an EP that was released last year, and I really love that too because it showed a little bit of a different side of their songwriting.
You can hear how this new single is a bit further along in their evolution as a band in terms of their sound.
It feels like they really honed in on this track and have found their sound even more so than the last EP. But again, that previous EP from last year, which is just self-titled, is very good.
I would definitely check it out after listening to this track, but "Trading Pieces" will stick with you the most.
This was vibrant, colorful, fun, addictive, charismatic, and perfectly balanced. Nothing about it was super over the top.
The guitar work on this and the vocals really drove the point home, especially in terms of laying out outstanding melodies.
But I digress, check this out for yourself because it's well worth your time.
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